African mobile operator MTN Group has carried out a proof of concept (PoC) for a 5G Standalone (SA) core which it said had been ‘fully deployed in Microsoft Azure’ – the cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft that provides access, management, and development of applications and services. The PoC was conducted with all of the 5G SA core elements including control plane, user plane and management nodes, deployed fully in the South Africa Azure Region, and allowed MTN to ‘experience the benefits associated with deploying a core network in Azure including fast deployment time (days vs months) and ease of scale’.
‘Being one of the first in the world to conduct this proof of concept demonstrates MTN’s desire to keep pushing the boundaries of technological innovation that delivers value to our shareholders,’ said Amith Maharaj, MTN Group Chief Technology Officer.