Think tank warns any further delay to 5G rollout will cost the UK multiple billions – but hey, at least Huawei is out
- Reference: 1601566211
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/01/uk_5g_rollout_delay_report/
- Source link:
The report – " [1]Upwardly Mobile: How the UK can gain the full benefits of the 5G revolution " – written by former UK.gov advisors Alex Jackman and Nick King warned that "the delivery of 5G infrastructure is stalling".
"Government's 'levelling up' agenda and the UK's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is at risk without a faster 5G rollout – to the tune of £41bn," the pair wrote. They claimed that if the delays continue at their current rate, then by 2027 some 11 million households and businesses would miss out on "vital digital connectivity".
Conversely, should carriers and the government exceed the rollout ambitions by bringing 5G to 64 per cent of the population by 2027 – the current target is 51 per cent – as much as £41.7bn could be added to economic output. That, the CPS noted, is a relatively moderate estimate. In a best-case scenario, the windfall could be as much as £52.6bn.
"The difference between the UK being a leader and a laggard in 5G adoption could be as much as £173bn in incremental GDP over the coming decade, as estimated by the Future Communications Challenge Group," the report added.
This boosted economic output is representative of growth in various different sectors being lifted by the next-generation network, the report claimed. Service-based businesses will, in some cases, benefit from faster and more stable connections than those typically provided by fixed-line connections.
The authors noted that the UK government has an uphill battle ahead, with the rollout vastly complicated by the [2]recent decision to ban Huawei . Networks are prohibited from purchasing new Huawei-made 5G gear from the end of 2020, and are commanded to rip-and-replace existing hardware by the end of 2027.
Oliver Dowden MP, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, estimated in July that the Huawei ban "will delay rollout by a year and add half a billion [pounds] to costs".
Huawei's UK code reviewers say Chinese mega-corp is still totally crap at basic software security. Bad crypto, buffer overflows, logic errors... [3]READ MORE
To mitigate that, the CPS urged significant changes to the UK planning law that pertains to communications infrastructure, the Electronic Communication Code. First written in 1984, this legislation was heavily modified by the 2017 Digital Economy Act with an aim to expedite wireless deployments, particularly those in rural areas. The CPS strongly doubts the efficacy of those reforms, with many new deployments mired in contractual and legal disputes.
The answer, according to the report, is to remove ambiguity and ensure the Electronic Communication Code is the overriding legislation in this regard. It also wishes to see judges empowered to backdate rental agreements for cellular sites and to grant broader rights to infrastructure owners.
Commenting on the report, Matt Warman, Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said: "It is our national mission to futureproof the UK's network with revolutionary 5G technology. Thanks to government and industry action 5G is available in more than 70 towns and cities.
"Alongside record amounts of funding, we are exploring how to bust any barriers holding back industry from speeding up rollout. We've committed to reforming planning law and to consult on whether further reforms to the Electronic Communications Code are needed and will consider the points raised in this report carefully."
The report echoes similar findings made [4]in Huawei-commissioned research by industry analyst Assembly , which argued that the delayed rollout caused by the new rip-and-replace mandate will have a dramatic impact on economic output and productivity growth.
In a statement provided to this publication, Huawei vice-president Victor Zhang said: "This is the latest of a series of high-profile reports all of which agree on one thing: that removing Huawei from Britain's 5G network will cost the UK billions in economic benefits, significantly push up costs for businesses and consumers and will likely leave millions with slower connectivity while expanding the digital divide."
The challenge facing Britain and the industry, to build a thriving competitive landscape that encourages more tech businesses to make 5G infrastructure equipment, isn't one that will solved anytime soon. Outside of Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei, there is just Samsung and ZTE.
As Amy Karam, fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said back in July – a week after that fateful Huawei decision – not enticing more vendors to build a vital technology, albeit one this is not hugely profitable, was a [5]"failure of capitalism" . ®
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[1] https://www.cps.org.uk/research/upwardly-mobile/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/14/huawei_ban_uk/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/01/huawei_uk_security_code_review_panel/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/09/huawei_report/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/22/huawei_commons_sci_tech_committee/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Meh
They will just blame the pandemic.
What Is Mobile Communication?
I can see the buildings of London from my house, nearby roads and the nearby area, I live perhaps 8~10 miles from the M25, but using mobile communications at home is solely for the birds.
In vain, I tell callers to ring my landline, but every time a series of failing mobile calls is required to get the message across that mobile service is a crap illusion. The two words cannot live together in my home postcode
Given the horror show of software rubbish Huawei are today reported as delivering, I am not sad that they are counted out, but it is clear that the mobile network service planners are about as skilled as the Huawei software engineers, i.e. useless
Our local newspaper is onto a news generating scam. It publishes the planning applications for 5G masts knowing full well that there'll be a follow up story some time later of the new masts being burnt down by the mongs.
If this was to be true, was there a massive jump when 3G and 4G arrived?
Possibly because 4G never existed, it was just 3.2G or something like that?
Or possibly because it's all a load of bollocks beyond a certain level of infrastructure. Unfortunately none of this involves filling in the huge number of not-spots or even entire areas with no broadband, it's about upgrading existing infrastructure and somehow monetising this upgrade - by charging more for "premium" services to cover this upgrade. 5G still won't deliver two way video calling (there's a reason why all the Apple adverts have "using WiFi in small print", it will also still suck when having too many devices in a small area.
Shirley
It's worth losing a few billion to show solidarity with the UK's friends in the White House and to help make America great again?
I found this line in the article interesting "It also wishes to see judges empowered to backdate rental agreements for cellular sites and to grant broader rights to infrastructure owners." I would like to know what broader rights infrastructure owners ought to have, are they thinking that these owners should be able to erect towers willy nilly regardless of objections or is it something else?
Are we all waiting for 5G?
no we are not.
The marketing people want us to believe that we are all chomping at the bit for it and that we wil all be upgrading our phones to 5G capable ones next week (or when ever Apple pull their finger out) or this year.
If you don't regularly go into big cities then IMHO, the benefit is marginal. As we are all travelling a lot less these days then as far as I'm concerened, they can go to **** themselves. I sure as hell don't have the money to upgrade this year (or next for that matter)
As I walk outside my house to make a phone call....even though EE says that 4G connectivity is good in my area, inside and out....................