In a series of articles, telecoms engineer and Director of Werry Consulting, Kevin Werry, will be exploring 5G technology. In this the first instalment, he outlines ways in which 5G is better than 4G, along with how governments should be approaching this new technology.

 

The industry press is full of promises of what 5G will deliver and the difference that it will make to our daily lives. Suggested use cases include assisted and autonomous vehicles, smart stadium, and immersive experiences (Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR)). However, for many of us, it is difficult to see how we, or even the society that we live in, will make use of some of the ‘use cases’ proposed by vendors.

The result of this uncertainty is the potential that consumers may not directly benefit from the positive contributions 5G technology can make.  Some of us may have already upgraded to 5G-capable handsets: are still using our devices as we did before, but with the option of consuming more data, more quickly.

Being an engineer, I cannot avoid questioning the introduction of 5G, and looking at this from the point of view of: what problem or gap is 5G trying to fill? Ultimately many of the services promised by 5G, are currently delivered, or could be delivered, by variants of 4G.  So, what is different about 5G and how can society benefit from it?

Putting it simply, there are three major differences to 5G, these can easily be described as:

  • Very low latency;
  • High upload speeds, and
  • Densification of devices (simultaneous users)

 

5G to benefit society

When discussing 5G with governments or regulatory clients who are either confused by what 5G is, or are being ‘drawn in’ by the hype, I challenge them to look at societal and welfare issues in their specific economy and consider how 5G could provide a benefit.

Whilst consumers could benefit from real-time VR gaming, or from major stadium VR events, it might be the case that the specific national economy is just not supporting those activities now and so would not have any real economic benefit from their usage. 

On the other hand, being able to carry out pioneering surgery remotely by a surgeon located halfway around the world, instead of having to medivac the patient to another country, saves on costs and provides substantial benefits to the patients and family.  This is one of the real-world benefits that very low latency and high upload speeds on 5G can deliver.

So much of the history of the evolution of mobile networks has been driven by the network and handset vendors, and their efforts to attract governments and consumers with faster, access everywhere broadband.  In my opinion, 5G should be looked at from the point of view of local benefit cases where governments consider the benefits of using 5G to tackle local issues with:

  • Smart energy management;
  • Pollution and environmental controls;
  • Management of scarce resources;
  • Health care, and
  • Transportation

 

Do not adopt a ‘me-too’ strategy

Governments have historically gleaned significant income from the sale of spectrum, often by auctioning to the highest bidder. Governments would be better to look at 5G and ask questions around what welfare benefits it could deliver and therefore overall, what savings it could make? How could it better control/manage scarce resources and how could it improve the welfare of the citizens? 

So, before setting off on a ‘me-too’ strategy and trying to emulate what is being delivered in often bigger and richer economies, governments should firstly question what can 5G deliver to improve the situation across the board in their own jurisdictions.

This article is the first of a mini-series in which Werry Consulting will explore issues being faced by governments, networks and regulators, and challenge some of the current thinking on 5G.  Looking past some of the hype, we see innovative services being tested and trialled, for example in the United Kingdom.  We also see regulators taking different approaches to how 5G networks are being licensed, for example with over 80 local networks (campus networks) licensed in Germany, or in novel approaches to spectrum allocation, for example in Japan.

Over the series of articles, we will explore our concern that if governments and regulators behave as they have done for previous generations of mobile technology it will just result in more of the same, thereby fundamentally losing out on some potentially significant benefits.  We are not out to state that 5G is a bad thing, far from it.  What we are saying is that from the start there needs to be a clear idea of how benefits can be delivered for the economy.  In the majority of cases, services will adequately be supported by variants of 4G. So let the breakthroughs of 5G be targeted on providing services that only 5G can deliver.

 

Kevin Werry is Director of Werry Consulting and is a telecoms engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the telecoms industry and has worked with governments, regulators and operators across the world on implementing regulatory, wholesale and access frameworks.  Kevin has also worked within regulatory authorities as well as through consultancy engagements.

Werry Consulting are independent telecommunications consultants providing operational, regulatory, and technical consultancy to the telecoms and media sector.  Werry Consulting delivers experience-based advice to operators and regulators seeking to implement remedies to regulatory issues.  In addition, Werry Consulting provides strategy and due diligence reviews on behalf of investors, operators and regulators and builds on its wide industry experience in order to provide credible, experience-based, expert witness support for litigation and arbitration.

Kevin can be contacted at kevin@werryconsulting.com.  More information on Werry Consulting Services can be found at www.werryconsulting.com.

 

 

Image credit: Christoph Scholz (flickr)