With original expectations surpassed in the previous 5G spectrum auction in the UK, it would appear that carriers are pushing towards deploying the technology. They are… but they are lagging behind the rest of the world.
5G Auction in the UK Goes Big
The recent auction for 5G spectrum in the UK has exceeded expectations with major telecoms dropping big money on spectrum. Close to 1.5 billion was spent for future use in 5g deployments.
UK Study Shows Potential Impact of 5G on Universities
While the whole world is eager to see what 5G can do, no country seems more excited than the UK. Various UK departments and agencies have put together reports studying how 5G can benefit the public, and while the research obviously centers around their local communities and industries, the conclusions and data can still be used to assist researchers and officials in projecting the impact of 5G here in the US.
At a recent networking conference, Andy Sutton, visiting professor in the School of Computing, Science and Engineering at the University of Salford, presented his views on how 5G will change campuses. Among other benefits, he heralded the fact that 5G’s promised speeds and reduced latency could make remote learning more accessible.
5G Snapdragon On The Way?
According to a recent leak, Qualcomm is developing a new mobile processor with 5G in mind. The popular Snapdragon platform will have a 5G variant next year for implementation into its latest smartphones.
UK Plans for Large Scale Urban 5G Test Project
The UK government has set their sights on 5G as a tool to increase safety, communication, and efficiency in communities. To see how 5G can benefit real-world communities, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is looking for a city with a popular of at least 500,000 people in which a 5G network can be launched. Digital minister Margot James said: “This is a huge opportunity for an urban area to become the flagship of our ambitious programme to make Britain fit for the future and a world leader in 5G. Trialling 5G at scale across an entire city is a chance to prove the economic benefits predicted from this new technology, test different methods of deployment, and boost the connectivity of ordinary people working and living there.”
Where is 5G in Canada?
US carriers have all announced their dates for 5G rollouts, with each carrier looking to be the first to announce a new market or speed breakthrough. Canadian carriers, however, have been uncharacteristically quiet amid the flood of US news on the subject.
Public 5G Powered Networks
Australian carrier Telstra debuts two 5G public networks… but users are reporting 4G speeds. Though each public hotspot is capable of pushing 3Gbps, users that are connected to the public WiFi are only seeing speeds around 100Mbps max. While 100Mbps is nothing to complain about, its not quite the massive 5G speeds that have been talked about for years.
Will 5G be impacted by same security flaws seen in 2G, 3G, and 4G?
While most of the world is looking towards 5G as a huge improvement over previous generations in every way, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) is concerned about security flaws. In their report, ENISA noted that “there is a certain risk of repeating history” if 5G networks uses the same signaling protocols used in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile. Known flaws in the SS7 and Diameter signalling protocols have allowed traffic to be eavesdropped, spoofed, or intercepted by attackers, and there are concerns that 5G networks may use the same or similar protocols – although that remains to be seen at this stage.
AT&T Plans Rollout of 60,000 White Box Routers for 5G
While Verizon has been making the most noise when it comes to US carriers discussing their 5G plans, AT&T is not sitting idly by. This week AT&T announced their plans to being rolling out 60,000 5G “white box” routers at its cell towers over the next few years.
In their statement, they explained that AT&T is “transitioning from the traditional, proprietary routers that sit inside these structures to new hardware that’s built around open standards and can be quickly upgraded via software.” They went on to explain how their move to open source operating systems and “white box” routers will mean decreased latency at the network edge, as well as easier upgrades and updates in the future.
The Impact of 5G
With 5G coming, what will its true impact be? Many originally thought that 5G would help cellular carriers knock out traditional broadband providers, but what will really happen? The Wall Street Journal investigates.