New guide identifies 5G coverage as the biggest headache for policy makers
A new guide published today by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) highlights coverage as the biggest challenge for policy makers in delivering 5G, and proposes regulatory modernisation to bridge the huge investment gap created by the scale of coverage needed for 5G.
Professor Will Stewart, Chair of the IET Communications Policy Panel, says: “5G has the potential to transform the UK economy, modernise industry and support the expanding digital social space – but it cannot transform what it does not cover. This makes coverage the biggest policy headache for the 5G era. It will pull in its wake a huge investment challenge and modernising regulation to reduce the cost of this coverage will be the most effective way to meet the need.
“5G is not a momentary flash to be realised in 2020 – it is a journey which demands a far deeper level of cooperation between governments, regulators, operators, vendors and vertical industries. 5G has the potential to be transformative – but only if the way it is implemented and regulated is transformative too.”
The main objective of the new report is to help policy makers cut through the many, and potentially confusing, visions of 5G by identifying the policy levers that need to be pulled for the UK to roll out new 5G networks by 2020 –– and get them onto a track to make 5G transformational for the UK economy by 2025.
5G Networks for Policy Makers covers the full range of policy considerations to deliver 5G. The main points are:
- Clearly define the scope of the ‘5G fabric’: There needs to be a clear and shared understanding of what sits inside and what falls outside of the 5G “policy focus” to align agendas of operators, industry, the regulator and policy makers and prevent silos becoming a barrier. The IET is making a specific proposal for this boundary line that brings fibre and wireless together and considers 4G and WiFi as an integral part of the 5G fabric.
- Focus on securing reliable universal coverage as well as high capacity urban coverage: Consumers and businesses will be demanding a far higher quality of coverage than today’s levelsdefined by just enough signal to make a telephone call. Instead, they will expect fast reliable connection, browsing and data streaming.
- Carry out a regulatory review to find new ways to maximise coverage at a lower cost: Regulatory modernisation that puts coverage maximisation at its core will be critical to the success of 5G. Anything that can make huge savings to the cost of achieving pervasive 5G “quality of coverage” needs to be in-scope of a regulatory review. New approaches to explore include deeper spectrum sharing, Open Hosting and lightly over-licensing of 5G spectrum for indoor use. These ideas currently lack specifics and that needs to be part of a regulatory review.
