Network Slice Provisioning Approaches for Industry Verticals: New Business Models and Feasibility

Network slicing is widely studied as an essential technological enabler for supporting diverse use case specific services through network virtualization. Industry verticals, consisting of diverse use cases requiring different network resources, are considered key customers for network slices. However, different approaches for network slice provisioning to industry verticals and required business models are still largely unexplored and require further work. Focusing on technical and business aspects of network slicing, this article develops three new business models, enabled by different distributions of business roles and management exposure between business actors. The feasibility of the business models is studied in terms of; the costs and benefits to business actors, mapping to use cases in various industry verticals, and the infrastructure costs of common and dedicated virtualization infrastructures. Finally, a strategic approach and relevant recommendations are proposed for major business actors, national regulatory authorities, and standards developing organizations.