Editorial

DCMS lays out how we’ll get to UK-wide 5G

Hinges on 5G Testbeds and Trials and ways to promote long term investment in digital connectivity – including 5G – through a new ‘Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review’

Posted 21 December 2017 by Gary Flood


The government’s just updated us all on how far it thinks we have come to a 5G future – and wants your input on progress so far and what should happen next.

Through its 5G Strategy, the government aims to accelerate the deployment of 5G networks so as to ensure the UK can take early advantage of the applications those networks can enable. Hence its new policy paper, ‘Next Generation Mobile Technologies: An Update to the 5G Strategy for the UK’.

It’s a document DCMS says summarises the progress made by the government to deliver against the goals outlined in the 5G Strategy, published as part of the Spring Budget.

It claims to therefore outline “the path to 5G connectivity and steps the government is taking to ensure that we are a global leader”.

Steps the policy paper outlines include

  • developing a future-focused spectrum policy to help ensure that spectrum is allocated in a way that supports the government’s mobile ambitions
  • considering whether existing regulatory frameworks adequately support commercial investment in 5G infrastructure and services
  • setting up a cross-government barrier busting task force to address specific challenges related to the deployment of telecoms infrastructure
  • and working with local government to make sites available for the deployment of infrastructure and to deliver the levels of connectivity which reflect the need of local areas.

Also identified as key to achieving this are a set of 5G Testbeds and Trials, which will encourage trials involving different user-types with different requirements, addressing deployment and technological challenges and helping to create a 5G ecosystem in the UK.

Hancock’s team are also considering the levers available to government to promote long term investment in digital connectivity – including 5G – through a new Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review.

Alongside the update, as stated, HMG has launched a 5G call for views. This is an invitation to comment on the appropriate scale and scope of deployment pilots it wants to run to help to establish the conditions under which 5G can be deployed in a timely way and help foster the development of faster wireless networks in the UK.

This consultation also includes an invite for input over the timescales over which they should be delivered, the amount of appropriate funding, and the method of allocating funding. Note that the consultation closes at 11:59pm on 24 January 2018.

Commenting on the news, the Head of Technology for UK IT sector trade body techUK, Julian McGougan, said that his group welcomes “the government’s ongoing commitment to investing in elevating the UK’s digital communications infrastructure from good to great, which the 5G Strategy is an important element of”.

“We are pleased to see progress in many key areas, such as the 5G Hub and the Testbeds & Trials Programme, and will continue to work closely with DCMS to help ensure that the UK is recognised as being a 5G Leader,” he added.