5G Deployment: Standalone vs. Non-Standalone from the Operator Perspective

The fifth generation (5G) mobile network is standardized and developed to explore the mobile market beyond 2020. In response to the diverse strategies of 5G deployment, five alternative network architectures have been proposed to 3GPP by different mobile operators. To fulfill the urgent deployment requirement from some operators, an early drop of 5G, termed as non-standalone (NSA) new radio (NR), was completed at the end of 2017. After that, the standardization of a new 5G system, including th standalone (SA) new radio access network, was finished in June 2018. This article analyzes and compares the SA NR and NSA NR deployment modes in terms of coverage, network capability, interworking between 4G and 5G, complexity and cost of network deployment, and the latest industry progress. NSA NR performs better in interworking performance in the initial phase, while SA NR performs better in network capabilities, device performance, simple network deployment, and cost efficiency. 5G SA NR is recommended for operators who have the ambition to explore new opportunities in the vertical and enterprise markets.