5G not necessary yet, says mobile industry conference

Tony Milbourn

The mobile industry does not need 5G technology as it has been defined so far, according to delegates at the Future of Wireless International Conference in London.

According to Bob Driver, CEO of conference organiser Cambridge Wireless the delegates voted against 5G deployment as it is currently specified.

“This reflected a strong feeling that 5G and future of wireless connectivity in general, was so vital to every industry sector, and every citizen, that the development needed to embrace a wider constituency. It was clear that there is a need to consider the wider business models necessary to lead the industry, rather than only focusing on the technologies,” said Driver.

5G, the next generation of mobile radio access network technology, is scheduled to be ready for early service adopters by 2020.

Tony Milbourn, v-p strategy of u-blox, said the standards-making machine has now moved to a point where it is defining things beyond the needs of the consumer.

“The area for investment is coverage, not yet another standard that sucks capital out of operators and delivers something that consumers don’t need,” said Milbourn.

However Milbourn added that his argument does not apply to M2M or IoT. “For a new connected world we do need new standards, urgently,” he said.

However, not everyone is against 5G.

Howard Benn, head of standards and industrial affairs at Samsung Electronics Research Institute said: “We need 5G because history tells us that we can’t predict what services will be popular from 2020 to 2030 so we need a super-efficient and super-flexible system to cover all bases.”

There was also concern over a confused situation in 5G standards.

“At this stage, I don’t know what 5G isn’t. But, I believe we could use it as an excuse to make a commitment to the country and roll out blanket coverage to change the way people do things. Look at what GSM did for mobile broadband. That’s the blueprint we should look at for 5G,” said Moray Rumney, Lead Technologist at Keysight Technologies.

 

Richard Wilson

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