BT Group has successfully carried out a two-week 5G Standalone (5G SA) network slicing trial to support fast and resilient mobile payments at Belfast’s Christmas Market.
The trial, which took place last month, involved a dedicated slice of the EE 5G network being partitioned for use in the Lavery’s Beer Tent to support its eight mobile payment terminals, enabling fast card and mobile payments for thousands of customers.
Network slicing uses 5G SA technology launched by BT Group in September 2024 to provide a customer with a protected slice of the network for assured performance, improving connectivity speeds and lowering latency by minimising congestion and providing bespoke capacity for businesses.
The trial successfully demonstrated the capability of network slicing to bypass congestion in busy locations and keep businesses connected.
It follows the availability of 5G SA connectivity for BT's small business customers as part of the company’s investment in networks.
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 among the most popular attractions.
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 SA 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 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.