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Part
01
5G Stakeholders
The key stakeholders required to successfully bring 5G to the market are the equipment vendors, mobile operators, and the government/policymakers.
The Roles
Equipment Vendors
- The role of equipment vendors is "to contribute industry security standard work, comply with standards, and integrate security technologies to build secure equipment."
- Equipment vendors are responsible for providing the capability to assist operators to ensure secure operation and cyber resilience.
Government
- The government is responsible for "establishing regulatory and policy frameworks; and fostering innovation by encouraging R&D through funding."
- Another major role of the government is to ensure the security of 5G. "Security is fundamental to 5G’s success and this may be where government interventions are most important." For example, in the health sector, 5G will allow the use of augmented and artificial intelligence, and this will require government regulations on how information should be shared.
- Other roles of the government/policymakers include; "streamlining regulatory conditions to facilitate 5G deployment, releasing sufficient spectrum for 5G that is harmonized and affordable, and easing financial demands of 5G by reducing costs."
Mobile Operators
- Secure operations and cyber resilience of networks are the responsibility of operators in the success of 5G.
- According to Huawei, "operators need to develop a consistent end-to-end security framework that addresses both their network equipment and their network management." This security framework should contain more than an operator's backhaul and core networks and base stations including other network elements, such as interconnection gateways, firewalls, and IT servers.
- According to Huawei, "operators are the major responsible body for the operation of network infrastructure and implementation of risk management depending on each country's security regulations and official standards bodies."
Collaborations
- The United States' Department of Defense is "engaging with industry on large-scale experimentation and prototyping of 5G technologies at military installations."
- The National Science Foundation is testing 5G platforms through a public-private partnership as part of a broader 5G development effort in the United States.
- Korea has established the "5G Forum" as the public-private 5G promotion and mobile communication strategy. To promote the application of 5G to various industries and create a sustainable 5G ecosystem, the Korean government announced the "5G + strategy."
- The United States Department of Homeland Security has announced "its plans to make 5G-related research grants and pursue partnerships."
- Ericsson as a vendor is "working closely with telecom operators across the world." This vendor, "in collaboration with its partners, is continuously testing, learning and pushing the boundaries of how 5G can meet its diverse present and future need."
- Vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung are in partnership with mobile network operators (MNOs) such as Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T to accelerate 5G deployment by developing underlying infrastructure.
- Ericsson is in partnership with Italy’s largest operator, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), together both companies are exploring the technologies and use cases that could make 5G services possible in the country.