Network slicing, which is the cornerstone of 5G architecture, enables the support of diverse 5G services over a shared network infrastructure. Essentially, a network slice is a logical network that serves a defined business need, by means of a particular set of network capabilities and characteristics. A network slice spans across the RAN, Transport and Core networks containing all the required network resources, to enable the end-to-end service.

Network slicing enables mobile operators to provision dedicated network slices for specific services or customers. Operators that offer specialized services that address precisely the specific needs of customers with tailored technical, performance, regulatory, security or other requirements, can improve service performance, customer experience and ultimately customer satisfaction.

Network slices can be monetized by promoting Network Slice as a Service (NSaaS), as part of a service bundle that is included in offers for enterprise customers, and as a quality differentiator for consumer services. By tailoring services to specific customer segments, CSPs can monetize these services in terms of QoE, and thereby increase service value and charge premium service fees.

A network slice is composed of Network Slice Subnets (e.g. RAN, 5GC and Transport), which allow greater agility and efficiency in the utilization and management of the network resources. Each network slice subnet will include a group of network functions and their corresponding resources. A network slice subnet can serve single or multiple network slices.

Figure 1: A variety of communication service instances provided by multiple Network Slice Instances (NSI) and Network Slice Subnet Instances (NSSI)
Source: 3GPP TS 28.530 v15.2.0 (2019-09)