Like AT&T, Verizon has promised 5G standalone (SA) core network for a very long time.  The mostly wireless U.S. carrier initially said it would launch standalone 5G in 2020. Some in the industry thought it did so in 2022. But the company said the technology ‘is in testing now’ and is still not available commercially.

“We have it in trials only at this point. We don’t have it commercially available for our customers,” Verizon’s chief networking executive, Joe Russo, said on a podcast last month hosted by Recon Analytics. “So more to come in the next several months as Verizon will be entering the standalone core game.”

“It is absolutely a capability that we think will be another enabler to new use cases. But … the reliability and performance of Verizon’s network is what we stand for, and I don’t put technology out into the network that is a step back. It has to be a step forward. And all of the data that I see – both internal testing and with external testing that happens out there in the market – tells me that SA [standalone] needs a little bit more time.”

“We’re doing significant developing and testing to make sure that both the data session and the voice sessions in a standalone world are as good or better than what you would expect in our 4G network today. So we see that in the next several months we’re going to get there, but it was not my goal to be first in deploying standalone. It’s my goal to be best in deploying standalone.”

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Verizon spokesperson Kevin King clarified that “we have commercial traffic running on our 5G non standalone core. That is what we announced earlier in the year. Joe was referring to our 5G standalone core which is in testing now.”

That cop-out was contradicted by a statement made during a webinar for analysts on September 29th, which was obtained by Light Reading.  “People talk about the standalone core. Just terminology-wise, that’s the 5G core essentially. If you guys have read the stuff we’ve said publicly, certainly we serve some customers on portions of our 5G core,” said Mike Haberman, Verizon’s SVP of strategy and transformation, And then we have some internal stuff going on with other functionality on the core. We’re in the process of rolling out (5G SA) in a very smart fashion.”

“Here’s the deal: When you go to the standalone core, you can’t aggregate your LTE carriers. With the non standalone core I’m aggregating together both 5G and 4G. So when you go standalone you start to bifurcate the spectrum. So that’s the impact to the RAN [radio access network]. So you better be sure that your mobile [customer] distribution, where they are geography, makes sense. Or what will happen is those customers will experience a lower service level. No good. We want to be careful of that. So that’s why, when you do the standalone core, you have to pay very close attention to your radio access network because they are directly attached.”

On April 27th Verizon issued a press release describing the benefits of 5G standalone (SA) technology and how it’s “what sets Verizon apart.” However, the release doesn’t specifically say that Verizon launched the technology.  That despite Verizon last year announced it had begun moving traffic onto its new 5G core, which supports both the non standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) versions of the technology.

Last year, Mobile World Live reported that Verizon was migrating “commercial traffic onto SA 5G core.” The article cited an unnamed Verizon representative. Mobile World Live also reported that Ericsson, Casa Systems, Oracle and Nokia supply Verizon’s 5G core.

Dell’Oro Group, in January 2023, listed Verizon among the few North American wireless providers that had commercially launched the technology.

“This is a moving target,” Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner told Light Reading. But Entner said Verizon’s position on the standalone version of 5G makes sense. “The benefits you can get today from standalone are limited.”

–>This author totally disagrees with Mr. Entner, because TRUE 5G=5G SA.  IN OTHER WORDS, ALL OF THE 3GPP DEFINED 5G FEATURES REQUIRE 5G SA!  That includes 5G security and network slicing.

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Light Reading’s Mike Dano wrote:

Verizon now appears to be roughly three years behind its initial standalone 5G rollout plans. In the summer of 2020, Verizon said it would begin moving traffic onto its standalone 5G core “in the second half of 2020 with full commercialization in 2021.”

Then, in early 2022, Verizon CTO Kyle Malady suggested that the operator would begin moving some of its fixed wireless access (FWA) traffic onto its standalone 5G core by June of that year. He also said at the time that Verizon would start putting smartphone traffic onto that core in 2023.

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T-Mobile US and Dish Wireless are the only two 5G carriers that have launched commercial 5G SA.   AT&T has made a lot of noise about it’s 5G SA plans but has yet to launch.

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/verizon-surprises-with-ongoing-delays-in-5g-standalone-rollout

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/5g-standalone-why-it-matters

https://about.att.com/blogs/2023/network-ready.html

AT&T touts 5G advances; will deploy Standalone 5G when “the ecosystem is ready”- when will that be?

Analysys Mason: 40 operational 5G SA networks worldwide; Sub-Sahara Africa dominates new launches

GSA 5G SA Core Network Update Report

5G subscription prices rise in U.S. without killer applications or 5G features (which require a 5G SA core network)