Telia Norge said it has become the first operator in Norway to launch commercial 5G standalone (SA) services nationwide, following a series of trials and pilot deployments over the past three years. The operator, which completed its nationwide 5G rollout in 2024, is now offering 5G SA to business customers across its entire mobile network under the name “Avansert 5G”.
The move allows enterprises to access the usual touted capabilities like network slicing, lower latency and greater control over performance and security. Telia reckons latency can be cut to below 10 milliseconds using standalone, compared with around 15-18 milliseconds on non-standalone 5G, opening up use cases in remote control, real-time applications and machine automation.
“We are very proud to offer our enterprise customers Avansert 5G as a commercial service, and this shows how far we have come with 5G and how strong our 5G position is,” said Telia Norge CEO Bjørn Ivar Moen. He compared the service to a “fast track” at an airport, where prioritised passengers zip through a reserved part of the network, even when there is congestion.
The operator is positioning the service primarily at organisations with critical requirements, including defence, emergency services, healthcare and industrial players that need guaranteed capacity, low latency and high security. According to Moen, demand is increasing as mobile networks are used for a growing number of functions that society depends on – which doesn’t include sh*tposting on X.
Not much standalone
Telia’s launch places Norway among a relatively small group of markets with commercial 5G SA at scale. Citing figures from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), the operator notes that only around 10% of mobile operators worldwide have so far launched commercial 5G SA services.
Lena Lundgreen, head of the enterprise market at Telia Norge, described 5G SA as the foundation for future services. “5G SA supports massive IoT and opens up new services and applications that we may not even know today,” she said. “Over time, all traffic will move to such networks as devices and needs evolve.” She added that device support for standalone 5G remains limited, which is why Telia is initially targeting the business segment.
The commercial launch follows several pilots. Since 2023, Norway’s armed forces have operated a dedicated slice within Telia’s 5G SA network, separating military traffic from other national mobile traffic and allowing it to be configured to defence requirements in both peacetime and crisis situations.
Telia has also worked with construction firm Veidekke and Hive Autonomy on what it claims was Europe’s first industrial test of autonomous machinery in tunnel and quarry operations, using a dedicated 5G SA slice to provide the low latency and reliability needed for real-time control. In the media sector, public broadcaster NRK used Telia’s 5G SA network for a live TV production during last winter’s Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. A dedicated slice enabled NRK to connect 13 cameras over the mobile network, while general spectators continued to use the standard network capacity.