MARKET REPORT 5G
5G use cases
The hype of 5G has been hitting us all in the face for the last 24 months. Although the speeds have been
impressive, and the UK has seen the roll out by all the major operators, when it comes to the Channel the
use cases aren’t perhaps as obvious
Comms Business asked
the market where 5G
was today and where the
opportunities for the
Channel sit. Mark Gilmour,
VP, Mobile Connectivity
Solutions at Colt Technology
said “5G has become a term
that is broader than just the
5th Generation of Mobile
Radio Technology that is being
introduced into networks
across the globe. Because
the 5G mobile architecture
embraces technologies such
as Virtualisation and Cloud
computing at the edge, 5G has
become an all-encompassing
term for the next era of
communications.
So the use-cases for 5G
depart from just supplying
mobile internet connectivity to
people on a nationwide public
scale to providing wireless
connectivity options for people
and things in a more localised
and private application; such
as providing connectivity to
factory oor to control the
production line, providing high
bandwidth and lower latency,
reliable connectivity to enable
wireless virtual conferencing or
remote diagnostics.
e current deployments
of 5G technology serve the
rst main use case of the
technology which is providing
more connectivity to people for
cellular based broadband (either
Mobile or Fixed).Over the next
few years, these use cases will
expand to include low latency
high reliability applications, or
localised/Global IoT platforms
that will be served by other
service providers, not just the
current nationwide mobile
operators.”
Andrew Dickinson, MD
of Jola, commented “5G is
no di erent to any other new
technology. It won’t destroy
anyone’s business this year
or next, but if you’re not into
mobile connectivity, now might
be a good time to research
potential suppliers.
Although 5G is about more
than just speed, for the channel
it mainly is. Most of the lowlatency
opportunities, (medical,
logistics, AI, drones), are big
enterprise. ey are already
being targeted by the Mobile
Operators.
Resellers and MSPs mainly
address the SME market, where
there is plenty to go at with
mobile data, including 5G.
Millions of data SIMs are
deployed in devices worldwide.
ese are mainly ‘dumb’ and
tied to a single network. By
2025 this scenario will rarely
exist.”
Pangea’s Systems Architect,
Dr Arslan Usman says, “ ere
are three use cases that make
5G as powerful as it is.
e rst is Enhanced Mobile
Broadband (eMBB)—the source
of 5G’s exciting, superfast
speeds. Once businesses
start taking advantage of 5G
rollouts, eMBB will open plenty
of opportunities to sell into
the media and entertainment
industry; for example, with VR
and AR tech far beyond what
we have now.
e second is ultra-reliable
low latency communication
(URLLC), which will enable
precision-based tech — partners
can use this to tap into the
self-driving car industry as it
booms.
And the third is Massive
IoT—the capability to connect
huge numbers of devices
(1 million per sq. km) over
the same 5G network. is
will open up the market for
partners selling smart city
What about the Huawei rip and replace?
BT UPDATE: In the midst of writing and publishing this article
BT has announced the delay of the removal of Huawei from
its core network to 2023. The Government has mandated
that BT must remove 65 per cent of the manufacturer from
the periphery network also. BT has blamed this intervention
for the delay in compliance.
Dr Arslan Usman, Systems Architect at Pangea
“It’s true that Huawei is facing huge setbacks in 5G deployment,
as the UK government and a few other European countries have
voiced security concerns and cut Huawei’s involvement.
However—with Huawei mostly out of the picture, other wireless
powerhouses like Ericsson and Nokia will have the opportunity
to step in and fi ll the shoes. As proud pioneers of cellular
connectivity, Ericsson in particular has always been on the
frontlines of next-gen rollouts.
So, for the market as a whole, there’s not much to worry about,
as these vendors aren’t too far behind with their own end-to-end
5G network solutions.
Surprisingly, Huawei hasn’t shown much remorse over being
given the boot. Fair play to them.”
Mark Gilmour, VP, Mobile Connectivity Solutions at Colt
Technology
“Each operator will need to assess the impact to deployment
and strategic progress on their own network of the Technical
Security Response issued in February 2020. There should be
little impact to progress from a market point of view and the
development of new and innovative solutions within the 5G era.”
Dr Arslan Usman, Systems Architect at Pangea
36 | Comms Business Magazine | May 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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