5G via evolved packet core slices: Costs and technology of early deployments

5G imposes versatile requirements on radio and mobile core network. Such requirements can be supported by parallel so-called slices, each implementing a service-tailored network architecture. This paper shows how such architectures can be implemented with the evolved packet core (EPC). We furthermore provide a cost analysis of an EPC based, sliced network deployment in Japan for 5G services. It shows that the main cost driver are low latency services, as these require a highly distributed infrastructure. For the expected massive number of IoT devices, a centralized infrastructure keeps costs surprisingly cheap in contrast. Overall, the paper shows that EPC is well suited for the 5G challenges, which is relevant especially for the first 5G deployments in 2020.