Competition in Service Provision between Slice Operators in 5G Networks

[EN] Network slicing is gaining an increasing importance as an effective way to introduce flexibility in the management of resources in 5G networks. We envision a scenario where a set of network operators outsource their respective networks to one Infrastructure Provider (InP), and use network slici...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Guijarro, Luis|||0000-0001-9774-9728, Vidal Catalá, José Ramón|||0000-0002-7137-1349, Pla, Vicent|||0000-0002-0894-9494
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/121101
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/121101
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Network slicing
Service competition
Rate allocation
Virtual network operators
INGENIERIA TELEMATICA
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Network slicing is gaining an increasing importance as an effective way to introduce flexibility in the management of resources in 5G networks. We envision a scenario where a set of network operators outsource their respective networks to one Infrastructure Provider (InP), and use network slicing mechanisms to request the resources as needed for service provision. The InP is then responsible for the network operation and maintenance, while the network operators become Virtual Network Operators (VNOs). We model a setting where two VNOs compete for the users in terms of quality of service, by strategically distributing its share of the aggregated cells capacity managed by the InP among its subscribers. The results show that the rate is allocated among the subscribers at each cell in a way that mimics the overall share that each VNO is entitled to, and that this allocation is the Nash equilibrium of the strategic slicing game between the VNOs. We conclude that network sharing and slicing provide an attractive flexibility in the allocation of resources without the need to enforce a policy through the InP.