Exclusive: Ericsson EWS' Jason Falovo on Canada's 5G evolution

Although 5G networks have been available in Canada since January 2020, Jason Falovo, Vice President and General Manager, Canada at Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions (EWS), says they are becoming stronger as rapid evolution continues throughout the country.

The original implementation of non-standalone networks in Canada used existing LTE infrastructure as a half step to full 5G capabilities promptly. Now, they have grown in Canada to a standalone 5G infrastructure. "People were expecting that they would pick up their phones to have the most amazing experience. But the thing about 5G is there are really two different types. There's non-standalone and standalone," says Falovo.

In other words, 5G has evolved from primarily serving as a coverage layer to its acceleration as a capacity layer.

Standalone has grown exponentially over the past year. Ericsson is working with telecom carriers who are rapidly building dedicated 5G towers to enhance speeds to up to eight times faster than pre-existing infrastructure. 

"Quite simply, the higher the band, the better the performance, but the shorter the travel," says Falovo. "Today we have standalone mid-band spectrum, so that mid-band spectrum and standalone network is enabling us to get better performance."

He added that increased speeds and significantly reduced latency make 5G networks powerful for applications such as advanced artificial intelligence and unmanned vehicles.

A recent study commissioned by Ericsson, the State of Enterprise Connectivity report for Canada, found that 46 per cent of Canadian businesses believe that 5G will improve bandwidth. Furthermore, 44 per cent say it will be a key enabler for the development of technical advancements like IoT and AI.

Compared to the global 5G market, Canada is behind forerunners like the US and China, but is growing at a very rapid pace. 

Within the next year, Falovo says Canada will start to see the rollout of 5G slicing technology - enabling carriers to divide the spectrum into layers based on application optimisation. This could include a retail network utilising one layer dedicated to point-of-sale systems and another to customer Wi-Fi, says Falovo. 

A growing area: Private cellular network 

Another area seeking growth within the Canadian wireless  technology space is private cellular  networks. Falovo says this allows more sophisticated, powerful networks for private businesses to conduct wireless operations. This includes remote areas that might have had trouble accessing reliable cellular networks due to tricky locations or organisations that have specific requirements. 

"Think of a large mine in northern Canada. To cover that today, with a Wi-Fi network, you need hundreds, sometimes thousands of access points," says Falovo. Adding that with Private 5G, you can cover that same area with fewer than 10 5G radios.  "In addition to coverage, you can have your own private cellular network with reliable connectivity and enhanced security because access is limited to the employees." 

Falovo says, at scale, the price of private networks is coming down much faster than the cost of Wi-Fi networks.  

Looking ahead, AI integration is an essential factor, too.

In the same report, respondents indicated they believe that 5G connectivity and next-generation technologies, such as AI, have a symbiotic relationship. For example, nearly 85 per cent of respondents said AI helps improve their network performance by automating analysis and reducing the manual workload on their IT team.

For example, North American airports are starting to use private 5G networks for passenger security operations. These connections allow for enhanced authentication with AI as well. 

"As you go through the scanner, they're actually using AI in real time to authenticate you, to make sure that you can actually get through the airport and you pass through without doing anything. So it's using private cellular networks," says Falovo. 

The 5G Evolution

The key to this evolution, however, is the need for simplified management of these new 5G networks. The first iteration of these networks used complex management platforms, usually created for large carriers to implement. Today, Ericsson's NetCloud Manager allows for AI-driven operations, centralised eSIM provisioning, SD-WAN, zero-trust security, and access to 5G Advanced network slices - all in a single platform with the simplicity and familiarity of managing a Wi-Fi network. 

"We like to think of it as our differentiator," says Falovo. "What we want to do is provide that security layer for cellular, just like you have on your network. So at the edge, we're providing the security that you're going to need in your businesses." 

Just as 4G networks were the game-changer for the app economy, 5G promises to change how businesses are connected to support digitalisation efforts.