BT Group has announced the first real-world deployment of 5G Standalone network slicing capabilities over the EE mobile network, launched to support faster and more resilient mobile payments at Belfast’s Christmas Market, which took place in December.
During the two-week trial, a dedicated slice of the EE 5G network was partitioned for use in Lavery’s Beer Tent to support its eight mobile payment terminals, enabling superfast card and mobile payments for thousands of customers – even during the market’s busiest periods. It marks the first time that a business has benefitted from access to a partitioned slice from EE’s public network and live 5G Standalone core.
Network slicing uses 5G Standalone technology, which BT Group launched last September, to provide a customer with a protected ‘slice’ of the network for assured performance, boosting connectivity speeds and lowering latency by minimising congestion and unlocking bespoke capacity for businesses.
The trial successfully demonstrated the capability of network slicing to bypass congestion in busy locations and keep businesses connected through dedicated quality of service.
It follows the availability of 5G standalone connectivity for BT’s small business customers as part of the company’s investment in the networks of the future.
Belfast’s Christmas Market, which takes place at Belfast City Hall, sees up to 1.2 million visitors each year, with the Lavery’s beer tent proving among the most popular attractions. As Belfast’s oldest family-owned pub, Lavery’s has been at the heart of the city’s social life for over 100 years, and the Christmas Market has been one of the most important dates in its diary for two decades.
Bernard Lavery, Director, Lavery’s, said: “With this being the 20th year of our festive beer tent, Lavery’s is as synonymous with Belfast Christmas Market as it is with the city itself. In that time, the need to enable fast and reliable mobile payments has only grown thanks to the growing trend towards cashless. BT Group’s network slicing capability therefore gives us so much peace of mind, not only in enabling transactions to be completed faster than ever, but also in delivering the dedicated mobile capacity needed to keep our customers happy and queues moving even at the busiest times.”
Paul Murnaghan, BT Group’s Northern Ireland Director, said: “Businesses increasingly rely on technology that’s able to cope with the demands of the ever-pervasive digital world, securely. We have all visited a retailer and had the awkward ‘wait while we check’ to see if a payment has been completed correctly. Network slicing helps tackle this problem by enabling consistently fast and smooth connectivity, critically giving certainty to both traders and customers even when the network is busy in specific locations like Belfast Christmas Market.”
Councillor Ryan Murphy, Chair of Belfast City Council’s Strategic, Policy and Resources Committee, said: “Having access to world-class advanced wireless connectivity is essential for our local businesses. It’s brilliant to see Belfast benefit from BT Group’s first ever real-world deployment of network slicing, helping local business Lavery’s to enhance its operations and provide an even better customer experience at the very popular Belfast Christmas Market.”
Belfast was one of 15 launch cities to benefit from the arrival of EE’s 5G Standalone network in September 2024, paving the way for BT Group to roll out network slicing for business customers. The company has been investing heavily in futured-proofed network infrastructure across the region to ensure it is ready for the launch of such services.
The real-world deployment at Belfast Christmas Market comes after BT Group successfully demonstrated network slicing for consumer and enterprise use-cases last year at its pilot cluster in Adastral Park.
Other benefits of network slicing include improved security, the ability to quickly adapt the network to meet specific customer needs and the capacity to support IoT sensors. It can also help cut down on accidentally missed payments by removing the lag between a contactless swipe and the funding being accepted.
