The importance of the transport network in the 5G era

Following the publication of Release 15 of 5G specifications by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaborative project aimed at developing global specifications for mobile systems, the race for commercialisation is heating up with trials and demonstrations carried out by mobile operators rushing to provide differentiated services in an already saturated 4G market.

Following this trend, activities in the transport segment are also on the rise. In light of this, NEC is introducing this white paper to highlight several challenges for 5G as they relate to current visions for transport modernisation, full-fledged 5G and beyond.

Greater diversity and sophistication of 5G services and operations, such as the delivery of URLLC service with a dedicated slice, will make the bottlenecks in the transport network more pronounced. This is especially true for wireless backhaul, where an intelligent and efficient means of operation and network build-out is in high demand. 

NEC aims to provide migration paths for existing iPASOLINKs to fulfil reliable, high capacity, low latency 5G services through innovative product development incorporating new wireless technologies and enhanced resiliency, and professional technical support services.