Amazon Web Services is officially starting to sell its own private 5G mobile network, designed for enterprises and requiring no specialized expertise to deploy – all for the cost of just a few thousand dollars per month.
For example, AWS claims that a university might pay just $14,000 for a complete network setup supporting 100 staff members with tablets and three months of service. Similarly, a construction company might pay just $14,400 for three months of service in order to run security cameras across three floors of a building for eight hours each day.
AWS Private 5G includes all the necessary hardware and software to help businesses run their connected environments, with use cases such as smart manufacturing facilities, security applications at physical facilities, campus-wide connectivity and worker productivity applications.
According to AWS, the private mobile network uses the CBRS spectrum and supports 4G LTE and will support 5G in the future for consistent, predictable level of throughput with ultra-low latency for long-range coverage both indoors and outdoors.
The service runs on AWS-managed infrastructure and is self-service and API-driven. AWS Private 5G is also scalable with respect to geographic coverage, device count and overall throughput. It can also be used with other AWS offerings, letting organizations use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to control access to devices and applications, the Seattle tech giant says.
Since planning and deploying a private wireless network can be complex, especially at large enterprises, AWS is building an ecosystem of partners that can help customers with radio planning, installation, CPI certification and implementation of use cases. Partners can be accessed from the AWS Private 5G Console and the AWS Marketplace.
Each network supports one radio unit that can provide up to 150 Mbps of throughput spread across up to 100 SIM cards, the company says, adding that it is also working to add support for multiple radio units and more SIMs per network.
AWS Private 5G is currently only available in the US East (Ohio), US East (Northern Virginia), and US West (Oregon) regions, but the company is working to introduce the service outside of the United States in the near future. They also pointed out it was not yet supporting an on-premise deployment of a core network. Instead, present customers can only run their core network operations inside a nearby AWS cloud computing region.
Each radio unit is charged $10 per hour, with a minimum 60-day commitment.
The launch of Amazon’s private 5G service is significant because it offers a very clear glimpse into how the cloud computing giant plans to enter the private wireless network space and how it might compete with companies like Nokia, Verizon, Dish Network, and even Google in a still-emerging but potentially lucrative telecom market segment. Few businesses, though, provide the kind of comprehensive price options that AWS is offering for its private 5G solution.
Make sure to check the company’s announcement blog for more information and detailed instructions.
