New 5G NTN Spectrum Bands in FR1 and FR2

Release-17 includes two new FR1 bands for NTN; n255 (a.k.a. NTN 1.6GHz) and n256 (a.k.a. NTN 2GHz). The picture is from a slide in Rohde & Schwarz presentation available here. Quoting from an article by Reiner Stuhlfauth, Technology Manager Wireless, Rohde & Schwarz:

Currently, several frequency ranges are being discussed within 3GPP for NTN. Some are in the FR1 legacy spectrum, and some beyond 10 GHz and FR2. The current FR1 bands discussed for NTN are:

• The S-band frequencies from 1980 to 2010 MHz in uplink (UL) direction and from 2170 to 2200 MHz in downlink (DL) direction (Band n256).
• The L-band frequencies from 1525 to 1559 MHz DL together with 1626.5 to 1660.5 MHz for the UL (Band n255).1

These frequency ranges have lower path attenuation, and they’re already used in legacy communications. Thus, components are available now, but the bands are very crowded, and the usable bandwidth is restricted. Current maximum bandwidth is 20 MHz with up to 40-MHz overall bandwidth envisaged in the future [TR 38.811].

As far as long-term NTN spectrum use is concerned, 3GPP is discussing NR-NTN above 10 GHz. The Ka-band is the highest-priority band with uplinks between 17.7 and 20.2 GHz and downlinks between 27.5 and 30 GHz, based on ITU information regarding satellite communications frequency use.2 Among current FR2 challenges, one is that some of the discussed bands fall into the spectrum gap between FR1 and FR2 and that NTN frequencies will use FDD duplex mode due to the long roundtrip time.

6G Unified networks: Multi-Layer Multi-Dimension Multi-Band (ML-MD-MB) Topology via @RohdeSchwarz highlights the future 6G Satellite and Terrestrial Network Convergence Vision#3G4G5G #5G #B5G #6G #NTN pic.twitter.com/DHVIP9kw8J

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) May 20, 2023

Worth highlighting again that the bands above, including n510, n511 and n512 are all FDD bands due to the long round trip times.

The latest issue of 3GPP highlight magazine has an article on NTN as well. Quoting from the article:

The NTN standard completed as part of 3GPP Release 17 defines key enhancements to support satellite networks for two types of radio protocols/interfaces:

• 5G NR radio interface family also known as NR-NTN
• 4G NB-IoT & eMTC radio interfaces family known as IoT-NTN

These critical enhancements including adaptation for satellite latency and doppler effects have been carefully defined to support a wide range of satellite network deployment scenarios and orbits (i.e., LEO, MEO and GEO), terminal types (handheld, IoT, vehicle mounted), frequency bands, beam types (Earth fixed/Earth moving) and sizes. The NTN standard also addresses mobility procedures across both terrestrial and non-terrestrial network components. Release 17 further includes Radio Frequency and Radio Resource Management specifications for terminals and satellite access nodes operating in two FR1 frequency ranges allocated to Mobile Satellite Services (i.e., n255 and n256).

You can read it here.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP 5G Non Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Standardization Update
• Connectivity Technology Blog: 5G NR-NTN Demos make a Debut at MWC 2023
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Direct-to-Mobile Communications Using LEO Satellites gets a Step Closer
• Connectivity Technology Blog: TIP has launched 'Non-Terrestrial Connectivity Solutions' Group
• The 3G4G Blog: An Introduction to Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)
• Free 6G Training: Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) & Satellites - Taking 6G to the Stars
• The 3G4G Blog: How Many People are Still Unconnected in 2023 and Why? 

Top 10 New (2022) Security Standards That You Need to Know About!

I had been meaning to add this session to the blog for a while. Some security researchers may find these useful. 

At RSA Conference 2022, Bret Jordan, CTO, Emerging Technologies, Broadcom and Kirsty Paine, Advisor - Technology & Innovation, EMEA, Splunk Inc. presented a talk covering what they described as the most important, interesting and impactful technical standards, hot off the press and so 2022. From the internet and all its things, to the latest cybersecurity defenses, including 5G updates and more acronyms than one can shake a stick at. 

"10 Security Standards in 2022 You Can't Live Without". Great #RSAC2022 presentation by @symantec Broadcom Software's @jordan_bret and @Splunk's Kirsty Paine. Download the slides here: https://t.co/aEqqnQvicM pic.twitter.com/CiIhDH7tu6

— Patrick Donegan (@HardenStance) July 13, 2022

The video is embedded below and the slides are available here.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: Authentication and Key Management for Applications (AKMA) based on 3GPP credentials in the 5G System (5GS)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Cyber Security
• The 3G4G Blog: Lawful Intelligence and Interception in 5G World with Data and OTT Apps
• The 3G4G Blog: Realizing Zero Trust Architecture for 5G Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: Bug hunting in 5G Networks and Devices
• The 3G4G Blog: AT&T Cybersecurity Experts Provide 5G Security Overview
• The 3G4G Blog: Everything you need to know about 5G Security
• The 3G4G Blog: Key Technology Aspects of 5G Security by Rohde & Schwarz
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Roaming with SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy) 

Qualcomm Webinar on 'Realizing mission-critical industrial automation with 5G'

Private 5G networks have immense potential to transform industries by improving flexibility within the shop floor of the industries. Industrial 5G networks hold the promise to transform mission-critical industrial automation by using the built-in 5G features of higher bandwidth, lower latency, greater reliability, and improved security.

Some of the ways in which Industrial 5G (I5G) networks will help transform mission-critical industrial networks using automation include:

• Enhanced Communication: I5G networks will offer faster and more reliable communication between machines, sensors, and other devices. This will lead to better synchronization, increased efficiency, and reduced downtime in industrial processes.
• High-Quality Video: I5G networks will provide high-quality video streaming, enabling real-time monitoring of industrial processes. This will be particularly useful in applications such as remote inspections, quality control, and process optimization.
• Edge Computing: I5G networks will support edge computing, that will enable processing of data close to where it is generated. This will help to keep latency to a minimum thereby improve response times and making it possible to perform critical tasks in real-time.
• Improved Security: I5G networks will provide improved security features along with network slicing, which will enable the creation of secure virtual networks for specific applications or users. This will in-turn help to protect against cyberattacks and ensure the integrity of data.
• Reduced Downtime: I5G networks will help to reduce downtime by providing real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities. This will allow identification of potential problems before they cause downtime thereby enabling proactive maintenance and repairs.

Overall, I5G networks have the potential and the capability to significantly improve mission-critical industrial automation by providing faster, more reliable, and secure communication, enabling real-time monitoring and control, and reducing downtime through predictive maintenance capabilities.

In addition, Private/Industrial 5G will help with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) by providing a highly reliable and low-latency wireless communication network that can support real-time industrial control and automation applications. TSN is a set of IEEE standards that enable time-critical data to be transmitted over Ethernet networks with very low latency and high reliability.

I5G networks provide a wireless alternative to wired Ethernet networks for TSN applications, which can be advantageous in environments where deploying Ethernet cabling is difficult or costly. With I5G, TSN traffic can be prioritized and transmitted over the network with low latency and high reliability, which is critical for industrial automation and control applications that require precise timing and synchronization.

Moreover, I5G networks can be deployed with network slicing capabilities, allowing for the creation of multiple virtual networks with different performance characteristics tailored to specific applications or user groups. This means that TSN traffic can be isolated and prioritized over other types of traffic, ensuring that critical data is always transmitted with the highest priority and reliability.

Last year, Qualcomm hosted a webinar on 'Realizing mission-critical industrial automation with 5G'. The webinar is embedded below:

Here is the summary of what the webinar includes:

Manufacturers seeking better operational efficiencies, with reduced downtime and higher yield, are at the leading edge of the Industry 4.0 transformation. With mobile system components and reliable wireless connectivity between them, flexible manufacturing systems can be reconfigured quickly for new tasks, to troubleshoot issues, or in response to shifts in supply and demand. 

5G connectivity enables flexibility in demanding industrial environments with key capabilities such as ultra-reliable wireless connectivity, wireless Ethernet, time-sensitive networking (TSN), and positioning. There is a long history of R&D collaboration between Bosch Rexroth and Qualcomm Technologies for the effective application of these 5G capabilities to industrial automation use cases. At the Robert Bosch Elektronik GmbH factory in Salzgitter, Germany, this collaboration has reached new heights by demonstrating time-synchronized control of an industrial robot, and remote positioning of an automated guided vehicle (AGV) over a live, ultra-reliable 5G private network.

Watch the session to learn how:

• Qualcomm Technologies and Bosch Rexroth are collaborating to accelerate the Industry 4.0 transformation
• 5G technologies deliver key capabilities for mission-critical industrial automation
• Distributed control solutions can work effectively across 5G TSN networks
• A single 5G technology platform solves connectivity and positioning needs for flexible manufacturing

The video is also available on Qualcomm site here and the slides are here.

A shorter video looking behind the tech to see how Qualcomm and Bosch are partnering to enable mission-critical industrial automation over a 5G private network is as follows:

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Industry 4.0
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Release-17 5G NR Reaches Completion
• The 3G4G Blog: What Is the Role of AI and ML in the Open RAN and 5G Future?
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Release-18 Work Moves Into Focus as Release-17 Reaches Maturity
• The 3G4G Blog: '5G RAN Release 18 for Industry Verticals' Webinar Highlights
• The 3G4G Blog: Challenges and Future Perspectives of Industrial 5G
• Free 6G Training: Qualcomm Pushing the boundaries of AI research 

ETSI's Summit on Sustainability: ICT Standards for a Greener World

The ETSI Summit on Sustainability - How ICT developments and standards can enable sustainability and have a positive impact on society, took place on 30 March 2023 and focused on the key role of the ICT industry and related standardization activities to support Green initiatives. The event brought a large and global audience of over 220 stakeholders including operators, solution providers, policy makers and standards bodies or fora working on the topic.

A multitude of presentations including two interactive panel sessions, rhythmed the day and succeeded to make it a highly interactive Summit, pointing out challenges and how ICT can be both the problem and the solution.

The opening session examined the sustainability challenges and global green initiatives from numerous global standards bodies and fora. One of the suggested actions was to adopt ESG (Environmental Social Governance) goals as an integral part of the company’s objectives. Another highlight from the session was the need for standards work on the measuring and reporting of “avoided emissions,” that is being covered by ongoing work in ETSI. Feedback from the audience pointed out that it would be beneficial to further investigate the balance of ICT deployments vs real needs. Do we really need to endlessly deploy new technologies, when exiting ones serve the need?

The following are presentations from the welcome address and session 1:

• Welcome Address by Luis Jorge Romero, Director General, ETSI
• SESSION 01 - The Sustainability Challenge and Global Green Initiatives chaired by Bettina Funk, ETSI GA Chair: The session examines several regional and global initiatives working on sustainability and seeks to identify synergies and areas of cooperation.
• Some Standardization Needs for Green Digital Twin Transition by Emilio Davila Gonzalez, European Commission
• ITU Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Dominique Wurges, ITU-T SG5  
• IEC Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Alfonso Sturchio, IEC TC111 
• ISO/IEC/JTC1 Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Thomas Wegmann, Liaison officer ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 39
• The work of GeSI toward Energy Efficiency (and other sustainable technologies) by Luis Neves, GeSi
• Green Future Networks by Anita Doehler, NGMN Alliance

The second session focused on the role of ICT in sustainability and was animated by two panels. The first one addressed the operators’ objectives and their plans for sustainability. The second one dealt with various initiatives being taken by solutions providers to meet the needs expressed by the operators and society as a whole. Suggested actions emerging from the debate included putting sustainability criteria in the procurement phase towards the vendors and enhance collaboration between operators, to share their common requirements and provide them to the supply chain ecosystem. In an animated exchange between the Panellists and the audience it was highlighted that there is an urgent need to reduce energy consumption, extend the lifecycles of ICT equipment and systematically recycle and repurpose in order to reduce ICT waste.

The following are presentations from session 2:

• Session 02 - The Role of ICT in Sustainability: The session comprises two interactive panel sessions examining 1) Operators objectives and plans for Sustainability and 2) several initiatives being taken by solutions providers to meet those objectives. Session Chaired by David Boswarthick, ETSI
• Operators Panel Moderated by Anita Dohler, NGMN Alliance e.V.: The purpose of this panel is to examine what are the sustainability plans, challenges & priorities for Operators
• Saima Ansari, Deutsche Telekom
• P. Balaji, Vodafone Idea
• Marc Grant, AT&T
• Luca Pesando, TIM
• Solution Providers Panel Moderated by Joe Barrett, GSA, Global Mobile Suppliers Association - The purpose is to examine what the current solutions and remaining challenges on Sustainability are.
• Howard Benn, Samsung
• Raffaele Bolla, 6Green Project
• Ralf Bucksch, IBM
• Susanna Kallio, Nokia

The afternoon opened with an  overview of ETSI, 3GPP and oneM2M activities supporting technologies for sustainability. One of the presentations highlighted that ICT should initially focus its own environmental impacts and consider digital sobriety as it is recognized that the cleanest energy is the one that is not consumed.

The following are presentations from session 3:

• Session 03 - ETSI Activities Supporting Technologies for Sustainability Chaired by Nick Sampson, ETSI OCG Chair: This session will present the sustainability standards work that is ongoing in ETSI and our Partnership Projects oneM2M and 3GPP.
• TC EE’s Approach to Sustainability by Benjamino Gorini, TC EE Chair 
• The Work of TC ATTM and OEU for Green and Sustainable Networks and Cities by Lynn Reiner. TC ATTM TM6 Chair
• 3GPP’s Approach to Energy Efficiency by Jean-Michel Cornily, Rapporteur for 3GPP EE work items
• oneM2M Work on IoT for Sustainability by Dale Seed, Chair oneM2M SSC 

The summit concluded with a dynamic exchange around what more telecoms can do to move forward in the right direction. ICT and specifically data centres create a significant carbon footprint, and there was a call to use the ISO Net Zero guidelines in order to develop sustainable strategies. The industry should adopt an eco-design (sustainability by design) approach and seek to have products that are energy efficient, with longer life cycles, recyclable and repairable.

The following are presentations from session 4:

• Session 04 - What More Can Telecoms Do to Ensure Global Sustainability Targets are Reached? Chaired by Dirk Weiler, ETSI Board Chair: This session will address alternative perspectives on the principle challenges and gaps that need to be urgently addressed. What more can be done, both in ETSI and beyond, and what could be future directions/actions for the industry?
• Environmental Impact of ICT – Data Centers by Bruno Lafitte, ADEME
• ISO Net Zero Guidelines – a Global Basis for Net Zero Action by Emily Faint, BSI
• ECOS: Driving Environmentally Friendly Standards, Policies and Laws by Mathieu Rama, ECOS

As a conclusion it was agreed that ICT is part of the sustainability problem and must seek to reduce its own emissions, whilst at the same time ICT is certainly part of the solution and should be applied to other domains in order to help them reach their own sustainability goals. As a first step, making ICT more sustainable should be the #01 priority for the industry today and ETSI groups TC EE (environmental engineering), TC ATTM (access, terminal and multiplexing) and ISG OEU (operational energy efficiency for users) are currently providing the standards to enable this transition to greener digital technologies.

Event Wrap-Up / Conclusions is available here.

Should you wish to learn more about the summit, all of the presentations including the conclusion slides are available here.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: Energy Consumption in Mobile Networks and RAN Power Saving Schemes
• Free 6G Training: Technology Enablers for Spectrum & Energy Efficient 6G Wireless Access
• The 3G4G Blog: Reducing 5G Device Power Consumption Using Connected-mode Discontinuous Reception (C-DRX)
• Free 6G Training: Sustainability as an Integral Part of 6G System Architecture Design
• Free 6G Training: 6G Flagship Webinar on 'Green Networking in B5G'
• Free 6G Training: AT&T Wants a Sustainable and Affordable 6G 

An Introduction to Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) in 5G

We have covered some detailed webinars and presentations on MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) but people have often asked us to add some basic tutorial on this topic. Wray Castle hosted a webinar last year on this topic. The abstract of that says: 

MEC extends the NFV concept to deploy the virtualization resources at the network edge rather than in the core/public network. MEC thus provides a significant opportunity to offer hosting for a range of novel applications, including those deployed by third parties, but it introduces new challenges in terms of the capabilities needed, and need to deploy applications onto the right edge systems for these benefits to be realised. This webinar explores these topics and presents an overview of the ETSI standardised architecture for MEC.

The webinar video is embedded below:

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Standards on Edge Computing
• The 3G4G Blog: Edge Computing - Industry Vertical Viewpoints
• The 3G4G Blog: Transitioning from Cloud-native to Edge-Native Infrastructure
• The 3G4G Blog: Edge Computing Tutorial from Transforma Insights
• The 3G4G Blog - Webinar: Where Edge Meets Cloud by Dean Bubley
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: SK Telecom’s 5G MEC Status and Plan
• Operator Watch Blog: How is KT Reducing the Latency of their 5G Network 

How many Cell Sites and Base Stations Worldwide?

I wrote a blog post on this topic nearly three years back on the Operator Watch Blog here. That post is very handy as every few months someone or other asks me about this number. Here is a slightly updated number, though I am not confident on its accuracy. 

Gabriel Brown, analyst at Heavy Reading shares this chart above in the annual online Open RAN Digital Symposium. Based on the chart above, there are 7 million physical sites and 10 million logical sites. As there are many sites hosting infrastructure from multiple operators, the number of logical sites are more than the number of physical sites.

Again, most of the sites have distributed RAN (D-RAN) so there may be one or more base stations (baseband unit or BBU) and each base station can serve one or more radios. See links at the bottom for tutorials on these topics.

Per MIIT, new China 5G BTS shipments to drop by a third in 2023 relative to 2022 shipments. https://t.co/6iCMCh0ht6

— Stefan Pongratz (@StefanPongratz) March 9, 2023

China Tower had nearly 2.1 million telecom towers installed with 3.36m tower tenants at end of 2022. An MIIT minister said that China's operators will deploy 600k 5G base stations in 2023, taking total to 2.9m.

Astonishing scale of investment and execution in #China for #5G, creating a pervasive connectivity fabric that is driving massive digital transformation. 1.4 million base stations for 5G alone!!! For perspective, that nearly 3x India's total base station count...@mandalainsights https://t.co/9djZiiy67t

— Shiv Putcha (@shivputcha) January 21, 2022

The number of 5G radios in India just crossed 100,000 according to latest data released by the Department of Telecommunications. A base station generally manages multiple radios so not sure how many base stations would be there for 5G and even for older Gs.

In South Korea, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the mobile communication industry, as of December 2021, had 460,000 5G wireless stations of which, base stations accounted for 94% of the total, or 430,000 units, while repeaters only accounted for 30,000 units, or 6%.

Light Reading reported in September 2022 that there are nearly 419,000 cell sites across the US, according to the newest figures from CTIA. 

China and USA are roughly the same size so you can see how China is ensuring their mobile networks provide the best QoE. It should also be noted that the population of China is over four times that of the USA. On the other hand, India and China have the same population but India is one third the size of China roughly.

Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog: How many 5G Cell Towers & Base Stations Worldwide?
• The 3G4G Blog: Different Types of RAN Architectures - Distributed, Centralized & Cloud
• The 3G4G Blog: Open RAN Terminology and Players 

Accelerating O-RAN Adoption Through Open Source

Telecom Infra Project's Fyuz 2022 conference took place in Madrid from 25 to 27 October 2022. It provided a unique experience by combining technology with gastronomy to stir the attendee’s imagination. It was an event where leaders of open and disaggregated network solutions and the wider telecoms industry gathered to share and discuss recipes for success. Many of the sessions on days 1 & 2 discussed how O-RAN Alliance and TIP work with and complement each other.

On the morning of day 2, one of the breakout sessions discussed how to accelerate O-RAN adoption with the help of open source software. The description of the session as follows:

Modern standards often include code-like sections in their specifications. Open source can provide reference implementation testbeds to inform the specifications and facilitate testing and integrating for ecosystem components. The work of the OSC, ONAP, OAI, and ONF can improve the quality of specifications and facilitate the integration and testing of commercial products. 

The following is a playlist of the videos of the session.

The following is the list of speakers and their topics:

• O-RAN SC Overview: Accomplishments and Future Work by James Li, Deputy Director and Principal Software Architect, Converged Service Solutions, China Mobile.
• RIC APP Track Updates by Ramesh Sriraman, Global Technology Director, HCL Technologies. 
• Accelerating O-RAN adoption with OpenAirInterface by  Florian Kaltenberger, Associate Professor, EURECOM and General Secretary, OAI Software Alliance.
• William Diego Maza, Network Innovation Manager at Orange explains How Open Source Fits into Orange’s Open RAN Strategy.
• O-RAN SMO Containerization by Pavan Samudrala Senior Member Technical Staff at Aarna Networks.
• O-RAN SC INF Project that enables building an Open Source O-Cloud for RAN Infrastructure and is delivered by Gil Hellmann, VP, Telecom Solutions Engineering at Wind River.
• Salvatore D'Oro, Research Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, Boston, USA looks at Experimenting with AI in O-RAN with OpenRAN Gym.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: Open RAN Terminology and Players
• The 3G4G Blog: O-RAN Introduction for Beginners
• The 3G4G Blog: Preparing for Metaverse-Ready Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: Open RAN Explanation, Videos, White papers and Other Resources
• The 3G4G Blog: A quick tutorial on Open RAN, vRAN & White Box RAN
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G RAN Functional Splits 

ATIS Webinar on "3GPP Release 18 Overview: A World of 5G-Advanced"

Yesterday, ATIS, one of the seven 3GPP Organizational Partner (OP), delivered on online webinar on 3GPP Release 18 Overview: The World of 5G-Advanced. A summary of the webinar according to ATIS as follows:

As the first release of 5G-Advanced, Release 18 has been progressing well despite the challenges in fully resuming 3GPP face-to-face meetings in 2022.

In this webinar, ATIS provides a high-level summary of 3GPP Release 18: the confirmed Rel-18 timeline, status for the ongoing study and work items, and the newly converted work items from the completed study items. We also give a brief introduction of the preparation for Release 19 aiming for approval of the package of projects in December 2023.

Distinguished speakers included:

• Wanshi Chen (Qualcomm, Chair of 3GPP RAN Plenary) will provide a view on radio interface and RAN system aspects.
• Puneet Jain (Intel, Chair of 3GPP System Architecture Group – SA2) will look at whole system capabilities and network aspects.
• Moderator: Iain Sharp, Principal Technologist, ATIS

The recording of the webinar is embedded below and slides available here.

Just a reminder, 5G covers Release 15, 16 and 17. 5G-Advanced is Release-18 onwards. Ideally, 18, 18 and 20. 6G should start with Release 21. Based on the current industry adoption of 5G, there is no reason to push the next generation on the operators before it's mature and everyone is ready to take it onboard.

I have seen a few vendors & operators now referring to 3GPP Release-17 as 5G-Advanced but the 3GPP definition is 5G-Advanced is Release-18. More details on this old blog post here - https://t.co/zY3thY3sAe pic.twitter.com/qO6d1YpO1e

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) January 12, 2023

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: ATIS Webinar on '5G Standards Development Update in 3GPP Release 17 and 18'
• The 3G4G Blog: ATIS Webinar on '5G Standards Developments in 3GPP Release 16 and Beyond'
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Release-18 Work Moves Into Focus as Release-17 Reaches Maturity
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Presentations from CEATEC Japan 2021
• The 3G4G Blog: '5G RAN Release 18 for Industry Verticals' Webinar Highlights
• Free 6G Training: ATIS’ Next G Alliance (NGA) Releases Two New Reports
• Free 6G Training: Next G Alliance's Report on 6G Applications and Use Cases
• The 3G4G Blog: DCCA Features and Enhancements in 5G New Radio
• The 3G4G Blog: AI/ML Enhancements in 5G-Advanced for Intelligent Network Automation 

Authentication and Key Management for Applications (AKMA) based on 3GPP credentials in the 5G System (5GS)

3GPP Release 17 introduced a new feature called AKMA (Authentication and Key Management for Applications), the goal of which is to enable the authentication and generation of application keys based on 3GPP credentials for all UE types in the 5G System, especially IoT devices, ensuring to bootstrap the security between the UE and the applications in the 5G system.

3GPP TR 21.917 has an excellent summary as follows:

Authentication and key management for applications based on 3GPP credential in 5G (AKMA) is a cellular-network-based delegated authentication system specified for the 5G system, helping establish a secure tunnel between the end user and the application server. Using AKMA, a user can log in to an application service only based on the 3GPP credential which is the permanent key stored in the user’s tamper-resistant smart card UICC. The application service provider can also delegate the task of user authentication to the mobile network operator by using AKMA. 

The AKMA architecture and procedures are specified by SA3 in TS 33.535, with the related study showing how its general principles are derived documented in TR 33.835. The AKMA feature introduces a new Network Function into the 5G system, which is the AKMA Anchor Function (AAnF). Its detailed services and API definitions are specified by CT3 in TS 29.535. Earlier generations of cellular networks include two similar standards specified by SA3, which are generic bootstrapping architecture (GBA) and battery-efficient security for very low throughput machine type communication devices (BEST). Since the AKMA feature is deemed as a successor of these systems, the work is launched by SA3 without the involvement of stage 1.

In the latest issue of 3GPP Highlights Magazine, Suresh Nair, 3GPP Working Group SA3 Chair, Saurabh Khare & Jing Ping (Nokia) has explained the AKMA procedure. The article is also available on 3GPP website here. The article lists the following as AKMA advantages:

• Since the AKMA framework uses authentication and authorization of the UE leveraging the PLMN credentials stored on the USIM, this becomes as strong as the network primary authentication and subsequent keys derived further to UE and Application Function (AF) interface.
• The Application Functions can leverage the authentication service provided by the AKMA Anchor Function (AAnF) without additional CAPEX and OPEX.
• The architecture provides a direct interface between the UE and the AF where a customized application-specific interface can be built, including the key management, key lifetime extension, etc.

The Journal of ICT Standardization has a paper on Authentication Mechanisms in the 5G System. It details AKMA and much more. It's a great place to start for anyone new looking to understand different 5G Authentication Mechanisms. 

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Release 17 Description and Summary of Work Items
• The 3G4G Blog: Lawful Intelligence and Interception in 5G World with Data and OTT Apps
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Cyber Security
• The 3G4G Blog: Realizing Zero Trust Architecture for 5G Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: AT&T Cybersecurity Experts Provide 5G Security Overview
• The 3G4G Blog: Everything you need to know about 5G Security
• The 3G4G Blog: Introduction to 3GPP Security in Mobile Cellular Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: Initiative to Remove Non-inclusive terms from 3GPP Specifications
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP 5G Non Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Standardization Update
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP Explains TSG CT Work on UAS Connectivity, Identification and Tracking 

How Many People are Still Unconnected in 2023 and Why?

I hear in many presentations that half the world is still unconnected so we need a solution XYZ. In this post I will explore how many people are really unconnected and why.

GSMA produces an annual report called "The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report". The latest issue from Nov 2022 explains the number of people that are still unconnected because of coverage gap or the usage gap. Quoting from the report:

(click to expand the image)

By the end of 2021, 4.3 billion people were using mobile internet, representing 55% of the world’s population, up from 31% in 2014 (see Figure 1). This translates into almost 300 million people coming online in the past year. Most of the people who started using mobile internet in 2021 came from LMICs (low and middle-income countries), where 94% of the unconnected population live.

By the end of 2021, the share of the world’s population living in areas without mobile broadband coverage stood at 5%, meaning that 400 million people are still not covered by a mobile broadband network. Since 2018, this coverage gap has reduced by only 1 pp a year (see Figure 1), highlighting how the remaining uncovered communities – which are predominantly rural, poor and sparsely populated – are the most challenging to reach in a financially sustainable manner. For example, in least developed countries (LDCs) almost 30% of people living in rural areas are still not covered by a mobile broadband network.

A much larger proportion of the unconnected live in areas already covered by mobile broadband networks. By the end of 2021, 40% of the world’s population (3.2 billion people) were living within the footprint of a mobile broadband network but not using mobile internet. While this usage gap remained relatively unchanged between 2014 and 2019, it declined by 300 million people (or 5 pp) over the past two years. However, the usage gap remains substantial and is now almost eight times the size of the coverage gap. It is worth noting that these numbers are for the total population, some of whom would never be expected to use the internet (e.g. young infants). Indeed, taking adults (18 years old and above) only, the usage gap stands at 25%, a much smaller though still significant gap.

The report further expands the reasons for usage gap as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

As can be seen, the reasons have been grouped in 5 major categories as follows:

• Literacy and digital skills
• I do not know how to access the internet on a mobile phone
• I have difficulties with reading and writing
• I find it difficult to use a mobile in general (calling, texting or mobile internet)
• I do not have time to learn how to use the internet on a mobile phone
• There is nobody to teach or help me to use mobile internet
• Relevance
• There is not enough in my own language on the internet
• I do not find the internet relevant enough for me (not useful or not interesting)
• Affordability
• The cost of buying a mobile phone that can access the internet is too high for me
• The cost of buying data to use the internet on my mobile is too high for me
• Safety and security
• I am concerned that I would receive unwanted contact from people online (e.g. scam emails or unwanted messages)
• I am concerned that it might expose myself or my family to harmful content
• I am concerned that my identity or other private information will be stolen or misused
• Access
• There is limited or no coverage to access the internet in my area
• Using the internet on my mobile phone is too slow (e.g. connection speeds)
• My family does not approve of me using the internet on a mobile phone
• It is hard to find a mobile phone agent or representative to buy mobile internet data from
• Using the internet on my mobile phone uses too much battery
• I cannot borrow or pay to use internet on another person’s phone
• It is hard to find somewhere to buy a mobile phone which is able to connect to the internet

There are many reports of blackmail and extortion cases in India that are linked to mobile phones and internet. You can read about them here and here. These also discourage a lot of people to embrace smartphones, especially women.  

Although women account for close to half the world's population, 259 million fewer women have access to the Internet than men.
The #GenderGap in lower-income nations has not improved since 2019 https://t.co/NSO6FZi15s #ITUdata pic.twitter.com/BnMIbe1tgF

— Int’l Telecommunication Union (@ITU) December 29, 2022

Although women account for close to half the world's population, according to a UN report on gender digital divide, 259 million fewer women have access to the Internet than men in 2022. 

I hope that the next time presenters are talking about the number of unconnected people, they put things in context and mention the connectivity and the usage gap. 

Finally, here is a webinar recording from M4D discussing the latest trends in global connectivity from The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2022:

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