In October 2021, SoftBank announced that it had started to offer 5G Standalone services
Japanese operator SoftBank announced that it opened a 5G Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) site in the Kanto region and started the nationwide deployment of MEC servers in Japan this month.
SoftBank noted that its 5G MEC delivers a low-latency and secure service experience by using 5G SA commercial services.
The operator also said that its 5G MEC offering now makes it possible for customers to experience high-speed services through the deployment of applications close to user devices within the 5G SA network, which significantly reduces server access times.
SoftBank’s 5G MEC platform provides a Kubernetes-based container environment, which is a de facto standard for application development. From physical infrastructure set-up to application deployment and distribution, 5G MEC sites are automated. Such features make applications on the 5G MEC platform more fault-tolerant, and they also enable faster service rollout with reduced complexity, improving a variety of industry services such as emergency notifications, in-building IoT-based network deployments, factory automation, multi-user network gaming and automated driving, among others.
“This deployment of 5G MEC is a major milestone for SoftBank. Its compatibility with SRv6 MUP and network slicing, along with its automation of operation features, make it unique across the industry. With our partners, we’ll develop a multi-industry ecosystem to become a complete digital platform provider by harnessing the capabilities of our 5G MEC solution,” said Keiichi Makizono, SoftBank SVP and CIO.
“Yahoo! JAPAN is proactively trying to adopt new technologies to provide safe, secure, and comfortable services to a wide range of customers. Therefore, we are paying close attention to the expansion of SoftBank 5G MEC, which will enhance the possibility of our services by providing CSP infrastructure closer to our customers’ mobile devices with higher network reliability, significantly reduced processing speed, and ease of deployment through container infrastructure,” said Masahiko Kokubo, Director, EVP and CTO at Yahoo Japan Corporation.
In October 2021, SoftBank announced that it had started to offer 5G Standalone services. With this new launch, SoftBank claimed to be the first carrier in Japan to offer 5G SA commercial services.
The Japanese carrier noted that the most important features of 5G SA networks are their ability to deliver network slicing and Private 5G networks, which are customized networks tailored to individual enterprise needs, and other connectivity features based on advanced technologies.
SoftBank had initially launched commercial 5G services in Japan through NSA architecture in March 2020.
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