10
OPINION
Too little
too soon
By Nick Sacke, Head of Products
and IoT, Comms365
www.comms365.com
The UK 5G launch season is in full
swing, but it's a shadow of what's
needed – 4G still reigns supreme
5G has arrived – or has it? At the time of writing, EE,
Vodafone and Three have announced the availability
of the UK’s first 5G networks, and O2 has announced
launch plans. The new services are surprisingly limited in
geographic coverage, performance and features, focusing on
broadband-only applications.
The massive IoT connectivity application of the services
has been delayed to 2023. The current incarnation in
all carriers, except Three UK, doesn’t offer the promised
alternative to replace leased lines (millimetre wave). Even
the much-hyped mobile broadband speeds have been
downgraded from gigabits to burst rates in the hundreds of
MB/s at best. Add in the lack of reliability, spotty coverage
and inconsistency in commercial approach, and 5G is no
more than a work in progress.
With a significant number of infrastructural and operational
challenges to be overcome before 5G can become a business
reality for UK companies, it’s time to set the glass half
empty promises of 5G to one side and leverage the proven
quality, consistency and reliability of existing wireless
networks, especially 4G, to support business communications
infrastructure and growth.
Land grab
The promise of 5G has been compelling for many
reasons; from businesses looking to achieve widespread
IoT deployments, to those seeking a viable broadband
and leased line replacement alternative or companies
struggling in areas of rural connectivity deprivation, on
paper 5G appears to have all the answers. The recent 5G
rollout announcements, however, have been something of
a disappointment for all. Limited to just six cities initially
(EE), and with variable accessibility even within these areas,
the 5G rollout is a promise rather than a reality. It will
take several years before 5G offers ubiquitous accessibility
– and there are no firm plans to support rural areas and
manufacturing – rather, a set of innovation challenges
that are funding Consortia projects to look at innovation to
address the problem. Even then a number of key features of
the service are still to be clarified.
The reality today is that 5G, where it’s available, is
providing enhanced mobile broadband and no more. For
those with compatible devices, an issue in itself given
the lack of available devices and the Huawei situation,
5G will enable voice calls and broadband internet access.
Even then, the promised speeds are not being delivered.
Customers can expect 150-200Mbps at best, and on the
Vodafone commercial plans we see guarantees of 2Mbps,
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