INSIGHT 5G
“There is a real prospect that Three will have a
monopoly in the provision of ultra-high speed /ultra-
high bandwidth services.” - Vodafone
5G Broadband
Opportunities
Now that the major network operators have launched
their 5G service in parts of the UK, Comms Business
takes a hesitant fi rst look at 5G applications and in
particular the possibility of using 5G as a fi xed line
replacement for wired services
Each month that passes
sees more and more of
the UK connected to the
new 5G mobile network
and an increasing number of
compatible handsets coming to
market.
It’s not necessary these mobile
applications that are going to
dominate business applications
however and many businesses
are taking a closer look at
how the use of 5G Broadband
routers and the role they could
play in expanding their o ce
networks with a plug-in device
that needed no engineering
visit and supposedly no fuss to
set up.
Of the UK suppliers only
ree has made an e ort to
launch 5G broadband and this
could be due to the fact that
ree has the widest band of
spectrum compared to all the
others.
Why is the spectrum
bandwidth important?
e amount and type of
spectrum that an operator has
is crucial for all sorts of reasons,
not least because it can have an
impact upon network coverage,
rollout costs and particularly
data performance (mobile
broadband speed).
ree UK is in a di erent
position when it comes to 5G
because they already have
140MHz of related spectrum,
including a single 100MHz
contiguous block whereas their
rivals tend to have 50MHz or
40MHz blocks.
erefore, ree has 2.8x
more 5G spectrum than the
other UK operators and the
larger the width of the spectrum
block used the higher the
data throughput – a bit like
increasing the diameter of a
water pipe.
Interestingly the ITU specify
100MHz as the minimum
spectrum requirement for a 5G
network to realise the bene ts
of fastest data speeds, greater
device density and low latency.
In essence this means the extra
spectrum will give the ree
network the ability to handle
28x more data and deliver data
speeds 2x faster than other
operators.
It’s well documented that in
their submission to OFCOM
consultation on licence
variation, Vodafone wrote,
“ ree uniquely will have
100MHz block of spectrum
which could allow it to launch
headline 5G services. ere
is a real prospect that ree
will have a monopoly in the
provision of ultra-high speed /
ultra- high bandwidth services.”
So, what about 5G broadband
which ree launched in
London last August?
e premise is that you plug
in your ree (Huawei) 5G
router and o you go – no need
for a landline of course because
this is a mobile signal service,
just join up your devices to the
ree 5G network, laptops and
TVs etc. and away you go.
Reviews we have read would
indicate the positioning of the
router ca n be quite critical in
getting the optimum service but
that once you have this sorted
speeds in the region of 200-400
Mbps are typical in return for
your modest, all you can eat,
monthly £35.00 cost.
Gigabit it is certainly not
but then again, the bre to the
premises roll out is still very
poor and you are more likely to
still be getting ADSL at best in
many areas so 200 to 400Mbps
is transformational to those
customers.
With the roll out of 5G set
to overtake FTTP in terms of
geographical coverage the use
of 5G broadband may well turn
out to be a bread and butter
application for the new mobile
technology.
UK industry regulator
Ofcom indicated in the
autumn of 2019 that they were
expecting to hold a further 5G
spectrum auction in the spring.
is is anticipated to include
80 megahertz in the 700 MHz
band and 120 megahertz in the
3.6-3.8 GHz band to support
the expansion of 5G services
across the U.K.
THE TOP THREE ADVANCES 5G
WILL BRING
• Faster data throughput – expect to get between 10x and 20x
faster speeds than 4G.
• Greater device density – a million devices can connect to 5G per
square kilometre, 10x the equivalent density for 4G.
• Low latency – a fi gure of 1-2 milliseconds is as close to real-time
communications as you can get compared to the 4G latency of
20-30 milliseconds.
16 | Comms Business Magazine | April 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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