Mission Statement

WWC Business Drivers, Relevance & Impact

The advent of 5G is seen by operators as an opportunity to converge the fixed and mobile side of their networks beyond structural convergence, where fixed and mobile functions coexist over a shared infrastructure (e.g., Cloud CO). In particular, functional convergence provides a single control plane for wireline and wireless sessions. Motives for convergence are varied but include:

• Offering customers a seamless, access-independent, consistent service experience
• Enabling multi-access connectivity
• Streamlining the set of network functions and processes required to operate their network
• Simplified OSS/BSS and network operations 
• Common technology, on-boarding, training and services between fixed and mobile divisions
• Enabling common subscriber management
• Extending the geographical reach of 5G core networks
• Extending the service offering with fixed access networks

In addition, the consolidation of all services and subscriber management onto a single system leveraging the 5G Core enables:

• The network as an access independent digital platform
• Access independent models for differentiated services
• New advanced capabilities like differentiated Quality of Experience for services
• Common set of B2B interfaces and a rich ecosystem

The principle impact on the market addresses the ability to create seamless connectivity via wireline and/or wireless access for residential, single or multi-tenant business locations that will radically improve users' network experience. This is the next step in the evolution from the automatic connectivity to available Wi-Fi networks and will become the norm with the advent of 5G. This work will allow converged operators to provide to their customers a differentiated Quality of Experience, with respect to different services and applications they are using, and enable to provide a consistent experience, irrespective of the access or appliance they are using, supported by a common and streamlined back office and control plane.

Scope

Wireless-Wireline Convergence (WWC) requires a substantial architecture and operation transformation, as some assets become shared, instead of being dedicated per access type. This transformation has to account for the large installed base of wireline subscribers, as a result, broadband line migration is a major aspect of 5G WWC Architecture.

The Broadband Forum works in cooperation with 3GPP to define how fixed access can integrate with the 5G core. The key concerns raised by operators and embodied in the work are:

1. The fact that no two operators will have the same starting point in the journey to 5G.
2. The need to eliminate as many dependencies as possible so that transformation steps can be implemented without major coordination between network domains.
3. The need for deployment flexibility in how 5G components are introduced into the network.

The 5G WWC architecture includes the set of functions and interfaces that realizes the use cases targeted by the BBF and 3GPP for the 3GPP Release 16 and beyond, including network functions for adapting wireline access onto the 5G Core.

It enables several deployment scenarios, which are described in this document, to support different network environments, starting points and priorities, with different cases in terms of Residential Gateway (RG) type, access networks and interfacing model with the 5G Core. As part of these scenarios, devices supporting 3GPP procedures, connected to the RG via the Wi-Fi in the LAN and/or over the RAN, may also access the 5G core network. Information elements that are common to multiple BBF specified functions in the 5G WWC architecture are defined.

Project Streams (PS)

Active Project Streams

Completed PS