Singtel and Nokia yesterday (2 March) agreed to work together to develop and trial 5G network slicing capabilities, based on a Network as a Service (NaaS) approach that provides customers with ‘highly customisable services for a variety of 5G use cases and applications’. The network slicing trials are the latest in a series of initiatives that the Singapore telco and its technology partners are working on to develop 5G use cases in areas such as cloud gaming, manufacturing, and maritime operations. In the joint press release, Singtel said the NaaS platform, enabled by the vendor’s next generation operations suite and cloud management products which ‘automate the creation and delivery of digital services’, will give it improved ‘control and visibility of services across the network while addressing specific 5G needs of enterprises with speed, efficiency and flexibility’. The 5G network slicing trials will be conducted and tested with organisations later this year.
TeleGeography notes that last month telecoms regulator the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) confirmed that at the closing of its ‘5G Call for Proposal’ deadline on 17 February, it had received three bids from the city-state’s MNOs, with Singtel and TPG Telecom (Singapore) each submitting separate bids, and the second and third largest cellcos – StarHub and M1 – handing over a joint bid for a concession. IMDA is currently evaluating the submissions, and expects to award the spectrum by mid-2020. The regulator will assess, among other things, telcos’ network security design and ability to achieve 50% islandwide coverage by end-2022.