INSIGHT
5G Update
BT’s CEO Philip Jansen
The UK is expecting to see the first 5G services emerge
at the end of 2019 but have we ignored the rural
connectivity debate? Will 5G create a bigger urbanrural
divide?
recently stated that the
mobile arm, EE, is on
track to deliver 5G into
16 cities during the current
calendar year. O2 has said their
initial plans with the Wireless
Infrastructure Group (WIG)
will focus on improving LTE
coverage indoors and in public
spaces but expects to “play a vital
role”. ree has gone live with a
second site in London and says
it plans to roll out services in the
second half of the year.
It all seems to be moving
quickly as vendors and operators
try and outshine one another.
e recent Huawei controversy
hasn’t seemed to slow anything
down either. We asked our
audience if they thought Huawei
equipment should be used in 5G
infrastructure and 64% simply
said no.
What can we really expect
from 5G? Carl Grivner, CEO
of Colt said, “e prospect of
5G-based service areas is of
course great news for mobile
network operators. With this
next generation network comes
the potential for the kind of new
revenue streams that operators
desperately need, as well as the
great experiences that consumers
and enterprises want.
e main challenge of 5G for
mobile network operators is that
the infrastructure requirements
are materially dierent to
previous generations. is is
because the level of bandwidth
required, scales up substantially.
Furthermore, when you look
at all the use cases for 5G, they
fundamentally change the kind
of underlying network needed
to support the services and
capabilities that would ride on
top of it. e backhaul dynamic
is quite dierent with 5G. e
old model of deploying bre
where you can, and microwave
where you must, is no longer
enough. Backhaul will be all
about bre if you want a material
5G experience.”
Guy Miller, Director – Fibre
for Everyone at TalkTalk added
“5G is a parallel connectivity
method to xed-line and
has some great use cases. For
example, ultra-dense urban,
public transport, stadiums, IoT
and the like, it’s also a great
alternate backup option to basic
broadband. However, for 5G to
replace xed lines, it would need
hundreds of thousands of base
stations to be able to not rely on
backhauling everything back
to the 4G network and that is
the downfall. e ever-growing
business and consumer demand
for bandwidth needs a xed
network, which could not be
replicated over the airwaves.”
Amid the excitement of the
arrival of a new technology the
rural connectivity debate has
settled down somewhat. Has 5G
just been a distraction from an
important issue?
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Evan Dixon, Managing
Director at Viasat Europe,
commented “On the face
of things, 5G should be set
to signicantly improve
communications in the way
previous generations have. But
on the ip side, given the focus
of 5G is on densely populated
areas, its adoption may increase
the digital divide between
urban and rural communities
– creating a “balkanisation”
between regions with excellent
connectivity, and those with
little or none. To ensure this
doesn’t happen, it’s essential we
take a holistic approach to rural
connectivity. We should embrace
a diverse portfolio of broadband
technologies so that we can
serve the rural populations in
the most economical, eective,
and ecient way. is means
considering 5G, bre, copper,
xed wireless andthe new
generation of high-speed
satelliteas appropriate to deliver
the internet to urban and rural
communities. Failure to take a
holistic approach puts internet
delivery at risk and means
we’d be balkanising the digital
opportunity – severely impeding
rural areas and other non-5G
applications, and making it
harder to bridge the digital
divide.”
What needs to happen in
order for coverage to get to these
hard to reach areas and what
part can the Channel play?
Dixon continued, “To
counteract the eects of poor
coverage, the Government
must look beyond bre for
broadband delivery and instead
focus on reliable, wide-reaching
connectivity technologies that
can help eradicate blackspots.
e opportunity for the
channel here is creating new
revenue streams by delivering
a holistic network of networks
for broadband delivery. It’s
not just about bre and 5G,
but other technologies like the
new generation of high-speed
satellite. So if it becomes too
expensive and disruptive to
deliver bre connections, then
channel partners can suggest
other connectivity solutions like
high-speed satellite to help reach
rural locations and bridge the
digital divide.”
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