Ericsson has announced that Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) will be the first 5G commercial network in the world to utilise Dynamic Radio Resource Partitioning (DRP). This is a 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) Slicing solution from Ericsson which will enable six telcos to deliver customised 5G services with guaranteed performance on a shared 5G network.

To recap, DNB is currently Malaysia’s single wholesale network (SWN) which has been allocated all available spectrum for 5G which the telco can access via a wholesale agreement. It currently holds a 40MHz block of the 700MHz spectrum, a 200MHz block of the 3.5GHz spectrum, and a 1600MHz block of the 26/28GHz (mmWave) spectrum.

According to Ericsson, telcos on DNB’s network have access to the full spectrum asset to achieve the best possible speed while ensuring that the pooled spectrum is efficiently used and maximised with other telcos. With RAN Slicing, DNB will be able to allow each telco to have differentiation and guaranteed performance needed to monetise 5G investments with diverse use cases. Although multiple telcos are tapping onto the same network, RAN Slicing can dynamically optimise allocation and prioritisation of resources across different slices for guaranteed fulfillment of SLAs as intended.

It added that DRP will set the foundation for end-to-end slicing and allow telcos to offer innovative and high revenue-generating use cases. This may include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), cloud gaming, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and more.

Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, David Hägerbro said “Ericsson’s first-in-the-world application of our Dynamic Radio Resource Partitioning technology on DNB’s 5G Network is an example of our commitment to providing a world-class 5G network to Malaysia. This technology solution enables all six MNOs to deliver customized 5G services with guaranteed performance. This innovation also allows each MNO to differentiate its offering to consumers on the shared 5G network.”

Back in November 2021, DNB had completed the world's first 5G RAN trial integration wit five telcos using the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) model. Most 5G MOCN integrations only involved two MNOs and DNB was the first to have more than two MNO core networks sharing the same RAN and bandwidth. According to Ericsson, DRP is a technology on top of MOCN which will allow operators to share radio resources fairly during busy hours and allow them to use whatever remaining capacity freely during non-busy hours. The DRP feature complements MOCN technology and it is a key enabler for the wholesale 5G network.

At the moment, YTL Communications’s Yes 5G is the only telco to offer commercial 5G services to consumers while Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi Mobile has yet to enable 5G for its customers. Malaysia’s big four telcos such as Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile have proposed to the governement to allow them to form a consortium to deploy 5G separately from DNB. Malaysia’s government is said to be making a decision this Friday on whether it should continue deploying 5G through a Single or Dual Wholesale Network.