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Orange’s announcement to the 2025 mobile World Congress marks an interesting turning point in the evolution of telecom infrastructure. By revealing its “5G Core Network-A-A-Service” (CNAAS) (CNAAS) offer, the historic operator offers a complete virtualization of the 5G network heart. This model radically transforms the management of mobile networks by applying the principles of Cloud Computing, like what Amazon Web Services has achieved for computer accommodation.
By centralizing the nerve element of the 5G network in a cloud infrastructure, Orange allows operators to get rid of technical complexity and costs associated with the deployment of a network heart. This approach is based on a flexible economic model, where customers pay according to their effective consumption. This principle of the “Pay-As-you-Grow” particularly attracts virtual mobile operators and new entrants, for whom the initial cost of the deployment of a 5G standalone infrastructure represents a major obstacle. The operator supports full network management, including software updates and regulatory compliance, thus considerably simplifying operations for its partners.
This innovation is based on solid technological foundations. The 5G standalone, unlike the current version mainly deployed in non-standard, works without support for 4G infrastructure. It offers increased latency and connectivity performance, thus meeting the needs of industrial applications and connected objects. With its CNAAS offer, Orange does not just host a 5G network, it virtualizes it and provides it as a platform. This approach allows immediate interconnection with other digital services and facilitates the integration of advanced applications, such as real -time connectivity for autonomous vehicles or critical infrastructure.
CNAAS architecture is based on virtualized components, using containerization technologies and orchestration solutions like Openshift Red Hat, suitable for telecoms environments. This infrastructure allows a dynamic allocation of resources and optimizes traffic management by guaranteeing high availability. The integration of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Allows virtualizing essential network functions, such as sessions management, authentication and traffic control, thus reducing dependence on physical equipment. In addition, the Slicing Network 5G Introduce an advanced segmentation of resources, offering performance adapted to the specific needs of companies and operators, whether critical industrial applications or multimedia services requiring an optimized bandwidth.
The success of this model will depend on Orange’s ability to convince a wide range of actors to adopt it. If we observe the evolution of Cloud Computing, the first AWS users were technological startups, before large companies followed the movement. A similar scheme could take place in telecoms: virtual and regional operators could be the first to adopt this new approach, but also new players wishing to offer services on a network which they partially master.
This transformation could mark the start of a deep change in the telecoms industry. If Orange manages to impose its CNAAS model as a standard, the management of mobile networks could gradually turn from physical infrastructure in favor of a generalized virtualization, thus laying the foundations for a new paradigm in the sector.
