• BT has switched on its 5G standalone (SA) services in 15 UK cities
• Its EE division will promote the benefits to its mobile customer base
• BT execs are hoping the allure of AI, as well as the demands of the gaming community, will fuel demand for 5G SA-enabled services 
• Users will need to upgrade their plans and devices to reap the benefits
• This is where the rubber hits the road for BT’s 5G strategy

LONDON – The meteoric rise in the use of AI applications appears to be key to driving incremental 5G service revenue growth at UK national telco BT, which today flicked the switch on its first commercial 5G standalone (SA) services, available initially in 15 UK cities. 

Much has been made of the poor 5G return on investment (ROI) so far for telcos, which have invested billions in their 5G networks but are yet to reap much in the way of benefits. But, some might argue, we are still in the relatively early days of 5G: Currently, most mobile operators are still running non-standalone (NSA) 5G networks that can deliver faster mobile broadband connections but not much else, and that isn’t lighting a fire under any telco balance sheets. 5G SA services are possible once a network operator has a 5G standalone core platform as well as a 5G SA radio access network (RAN) and BT now has both (at least in some parts of the UK… we’ll come to that in a bit). 5G SA has been much harder for operators to provision and activate for multiple reasons (economic, technical, regulatory, strategically), so when telcos are ready to go live with 5G SA they tend to want to shout about it. (There will be more on the enabling network technologies later on in this article too.) 

Why? Because it is actually capable of delivering on the 5G promises that have been hyped up by the vendors for more than a decade already (network slicing is a great example). To use a milk analogy (and why not!), NSA is semi-skimmed 5G: The glass-half-full brigade would argue that SA is ‘full fat’ 5G and (prepare yourself…) is capable of bringing home the 5G bacon. (OK, I’m done now with the food and drink references.)

BT’s press release, which comes from the telco’s consumer services division EE, provides the operator’s pitch on 5G SA, with AI as a catalyst for anticipated customer demand featuring heavily. The release also includes BT’s launch of Wi-Fi 7 home broadband devices (featuring Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 chips) that, the operator claims, will provide an enhanced customer experience indoors to accompany the improved outdoor performance offered by 5G SA.  

Here are a few tasters. Today, EE is launching UK firsts in network capabilities designed to unleash the huge potential of a wave of AI-powered devices,” stated Marc Allera, the CEO of EE in the press release. 

During a media briefing at BT’s headquarters in London on Thursday morning, he added that users’ seemingly insatiable appetites for AI applications is set to stimulate device upgrades (smartphones, tablets, PCs, TVs) in the home and work environments, and that BT’s 5G SA network has been designed to deliver an “optimal experience” in the AI era. 

And there’s more. The 5G SA network “is also being powered by the latest in AI technology, using automation to improve reliability and machine learning to reduce energy demand on the grid by putting mobile cells into a sleep mode when not being used. Identified as the backbone of many future services, EE’s 5G standalone network has been designed to deliver the smooth running of future AI applications, ensuring they connect seamlessly to the cloud to provide the best experience,” noted BT. 

There’s no doubt that this is an important step for BT – having a 5G SA infrastructure gives it more service delivery and, importantly, money-making options. 

But… to reap the benefits, BT/EE needs 5G SA-capable devices, new attractive and affordable services and customers that are willing to pay (in a country where many people are still experiencing a cost-of-living crisis) as well as the 5G SA network. Those are the key elements and the service provider only has slivers of those elements.

The 5G SA network is live in 15 cities (including London, Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester) and, to its credit, the service is available to almost everyone living in those cities, meaning that 5G SA services are available now to about 18 million people. But the UK has a population of 67 million, so when will the telco have nationwide 5G SA? The operator’s executives didn’t want to commit to a timeline or talk about how fast other cities would be added to the initial 15, though the (unofficial) talk at BT’s headquarters is that another 15 cities will be live by the end of this year. 

BT’s chief security and networks officer, Howard Watson, told TelecomTV that all of BT’s 5G sites would be 5G SA-enabled by early 2028, so it’s going to be a long process that will involve configuring and testing all sites, getting rid of all Huawei RAN gear (the Chinese vendor’s tech is already eradicated from BT’s core, which is now served by Ericsson and Nokia technology) and overcoming planning hurdles and other obstacles (not all cell sites are made equal…). 

So in the meantime, what kind of experience will those who sign up for 5G SA-enabled services get if they are not in the ‘live’ cities? Well, quite simply, they won’t be getting all the features and functions they have the right to expect: If they roam beyond a 5G SA area they will benefit from a new quality of service feature called Boost but that won’t match 5G SA’s capabilities. 

And devices? Well, as of now, there are only a few smartphones capable of using EE’s 5G SA services – namely the TCL 50, Moto Razer 50 Ultra and Moto G 85 5G, while the operator’s 5GEE WiFi and 5GEE Home routers are also ready to rock. The Samsung S23 and S24 devices will be added to that short list soon, with more to be added in the coming months. What about iPhones? There may be news next week when Apple holds its iPhone 16 launch on 9 September. 

As for services, well, 5G SA-enabled faster mobile broadband and network slicing can be used to guarantee data service levels for demanding users such as gamers. But what else? There will be more to come it seems – there is a lot of marketing to be done on features, applications and, of course, tariffs because any EE customers that want to make use of 5G SA services will need to upgrade. BT is about to find out how deep people’s pockets are. 

Watson added that having a 5G SA-ready network now enables BT to launch network slicing-enabled services, something that wasn’t possible before, so it is at least a step forward. Now the operator needs to let potential users know what those services might be…

And, of course, this isn’t just about consumers (though that was the focus of today’s announcement and presentation): 5G SA will also, in theory, offer a lot of positives to enterprise customers too. There’s more to come on that, according to Watson, but in the meantime, network slicing-enabled services looks to be the key for that market (though no doubt AI will feature strongly there too).       

There’s a lot to unpack here for BT, but ultimately this is where the rubber hits the road for the UK telco’s 5G strategy – indeed, for its mobile services strategy. Forget 6G – this is the real big test. For BT’s sake, let’s hope the AI bubble doesn’t burst. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV