US operator Verizon continued to ramp its network slicing capabilities by conducting a field trial which demonstrated improved performance levels for first responders using its standalone (SA) 5G core.

The operator conducted the trials with public safety technology company Axon Enterprise on its commercial wideband network and SA 5G core alongside simultaneous tests without slicing.

It stated they demonstrated the ability to improve performance levels for mission critical functions across some of Axon Enterprise’s first responder services, while passing video data and location services over a network slice in a commercial 5G environment.

A Verizon representative told Mobile World Live it employed C-Band spectrum in the trials.

Axon Enterprise conducted side-by-side tests of services covering a vehicle video service providing live maps and streaming from mobile cameras.

The tests measured by time to the first frame; start per cent, latency; and jitter.

Compared with Verizon’s commercial 5G network, it recorded a 53 per cent improvement in 95th percentile of time to first frame; a 5 per cent improvement in start per cent; a 68 per cent reduction in latency; and an 83 per cent improvement in jitter.

Adam Koeppe, SVP of network and technology planning at Verizon, stated efforts spanning five years to shift to a cloud-native architecture and SA 5G core had enabled it to match network resources with the desired performance characteristics through a slice.

T-Mobile US is currently the only operator in the country to fully deploy a SA 5G network: it announced a nationwide beta of network slicing technology for developers at MWC23 Las Vegas in September.