Singtel has deployed the first 5G standalone trial network in Singapore to provide enterprises with early access to ultra-fast, low-latency connections.
The network was launched at Singtel’s 5G Garage testing facility to accelerate use case development after the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new sense of urgency for digital transformation.
“Our 5G standalone trial network offers enterprises from across industries the opportunity to develop and test applications to accelerate automation and digitalisation,” said Bill Chang, the Chief Executive Officer of Group Enterprise at Singtel.
The launch of the standalone trial is an important step forward, as Singtel prepares for the rollout of a commercial 5G standalone.
“With 5G’s low latency and scalability, enterprises can not only drive efficiencies and make better and more cost-effective decisions but also deliver richer customer experiences,” said Mr. Chang.
Global cloud gaming provider, Ubitus, is the first enterprise to trial the standalone network. The trial demonstrated a 5G cloud gaming experience that consistently delivered 85% lower latency of between 8 to 11 milliseconds compared to cloud gaming on 4G.
“The trials will inform our designs for exciting games which will test gamers’ reflexes and instincts,” said Wesley Kuo, Ubitus’ Chief Executive Officer.
With the importance of edge computing for cloud gaming, the trial was conducted on Singtel’s multi-access edge computing (MEC) platform which integrates 5G’s ultra-low latency and high bandwidth capabilities with powerful cloud computing performance. This allows rich graphics to be processed on dedicated servers and transferred directly to devices, significantly cutting lag times, which is critical to the gaming experience.
“We are very excited with the potential of Singtel’s 5G SA and MEC to push the envelope on cloud gaming. We will leverage the ultra-low latency of 5G and MEC to offer immersive, hyper-realistic gaming experience,” added Mr. Kuo.
5G and MEC’s ability to integrate with technologies such as Internet of Things, analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented, virtual or mixed reality enables enterprises across industries to leverage the low latency in applications requiring little or no lag times.
By removing the need for data to be sent all the way to public clouds to be processed and sent back, MEC is not only able to better serve mission critical data connectivity, it also enables enterprises to optimise their total cost of ownership for hosting, dedicated link provisioning and data transfer.
If successful, 5G can begin to be implemented in remote surgery, smart manufacturing, autonomous driving, remote robotic repair and maintenance and virtual reality-enabled live concerts.
Singtel has collaborated with port operator PSA to trial maritime 5G use cases to optimise port operations at the future Tuas Port.
Singtel’s standalone 5G network utilises 3.5GHz spectrum and Ericsson’s advanced Massive MIMO (Multiple-input multiple-output) technology to deliver ultra-fast speeds and low-latency or response times.
Singtel previously unveiled their first 5G use case with a 24/7 unmanned pop-up retail store known as UNBOXED in September 2020.
Also in September, Singtel was announced to be part of an agreement with the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority to hire and reskill 1,000 professionals in 5G technology.
Since the launch of 5G Garage with Ericsson and Singapore Polytechnic in January 2019, Singtel has successfully developed ten 5G use cases together with more than 20 start-ups and enterprises in areas such as robotics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones.
Singtel has also been working with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, and JTC to enable enterprises to develop and test advanced 5G-powered manufacturing solutions.
Got a story, opinion or more information on this article? Contact us at editor@w.media.
And sign up to the W.Media Newsletter to get the latest data center, cloud and cybersecurity updates!
Image credit: Singtel
