Fifth Generation Non-Standalone to Standalone Wireless Architecture Reconstruction Solution and Implementation: South Africa Context

The wireless mobile communication industry has evolved immensely over the past five decades, starting from the voice-centric 1G technology to the current data-centric 5G technology because of the increasing data traffic and the need for higher data speed rates. To provide the initial experience of 5G technology, many network operators worldwide started their deployment with the Non-Standalone (NSA) solution to mainly reduce the cost and time. 5G NSA solution already provides lower latency, higher network capacity, and bandwidth compared to the legacy network, however, there is growing oncern about its reliance on the 4G core network, capability, and the long-term migration plan to 5G Standalone (SA) network solution. This paper discusses a brief review of 5G evolution, standardization formulation, deployment strategies, security enhancement, challenges, and presents the reconstruction of 5G NSA to SA solution implementation. Furthermore, a 5G field test will be performed to analyze the user experience under the NSA NR in South Africa, and key practical challenges facing the South African MNOs from the perspective of business and technical challenges will be discussed with recommendations.