Is UC Ready for the Rise of 5G?

Following MWC Barcelona, formerly Mobile World Congress, CCS Insight published some eyebrow raising findings with regards to business adoption of 5G in the near future. Their summary of the event included the following:

• 5G dominated MWC 2019, from keynote presentations to announcements about network infrastructure, chipsets, devices, uses for the technology and the business case for its deployment
• There was a new level of optimism now 5G is becoming a reality. There might be a challenging 12 months ahead, but the industry now has a platform to build on
• After years of indistinguishable black slabs, smartphones saw a return to innovation and diversity with the advent of devices with foldable displays. This is hugely positive for the industry, but still needs refining for the average consumer.
• The network itself was in full focus as the role of 5G in a variety of scenarios highlighted the need for widespread network transformation

As an eagerly anticipated technology, I wanted to dig deeper into 5G and find out how much of a reality it is and what leading vendors thought about its impact on the Unified Comms industry.

The reality of 5G in the UK

I spoke to David Hilliard, Chief Executive of Mentor Europe, to find out more about the impending rise of 5G, and to find out just how close we are. I asked when will 5G have a practical impact on how we communicate and what the big challenges in its way were.

“At the moment, nothing significant is going on with 5G in the UK. There are some small trials sponsored by the main four mobile operators.”

“The automotive industry is making the biggest strides – like Jaguar Land Rover who are looking into 5G for driverless cars”

David recognised there is a lot of hype about 5G and we agreed that end user expectation is that it will be as seamless as switching from 3G to 4G. One morning you wake up and your phone is much faster.

However, David highlighted some key blockers that need to be overcome, specifically in the UK. “The market is an issue. There is no new money in the mobile market, so the real question is how are we going to fund 5G?”

The second blocker David identified is the scarcity of dark fibre in the UK. This market is dominated by BT Openreach and Virgin Media who refuse to sell to mobile operators. Last year Ofcom tried to force BT into a better sales model, but it was challenged by BT and remains monopolised.

We spoke about other vendors dealing in this space and David explained the infrastructure challenges faced by someone like O2. “The amount of backhaul will need to be reviewed from the tower to the exchange. In some areas, there is no capacity left. So, all operators will need to heavily upgrade their infrastructure – which goes back to funding”.

I asked David what sort of provider could come to the rescue in this case. He pointed to CityFibre who have just received a $2.5bn investment for fibre to the home or the likes of Colt and EU Networks own and dispense dark fibre networks.

Overall, it remains a huge challenge to deliver 5G in the UK. Once the technology does become available, there is then the challenge of geographical population. In my old London office, I struggled to pick up 3G. At my new house, there is no mobile data at all. 5G still seems a long way away for the average user.

5G in Unified Comms