The 5G Conundrum
The technical issues have been solved. We can communicate using 5G technology at blisteringly high speeds and with the very low latency needed for fast decision making in automated transportation. Now we need to solve the business issues as there is a massive infrastructure cost to make 5G a profitable reality. Might the Achilles Heel of 5G be the business model rather than the technology?
Demand

Demand from users is ever increasing—‘more bandwidth’, ‘higher speed’ and ‘lower latency’. Yet there is not an unlimited amount of radio spectrum to support such growth. Additional frequency allocation has been made from former broadcast TV spectrum as a partial solution.
Re-Architect
Lower traffic rural cells may well overlay 5G base stations on the existing footprint of 4G cells, although that will limit 5G’s ability to improve bitrate—which is range-dependent.
However the solution for high traffic urban cells is to reduce the cell size massively. Shorter range allows for higher bitrates and lower latency but the biggest issue is simply a numbers game. The number of urban cells is dramatically higher and each cell site requires infrastructure support (like power and back-haul fibre), as well as finding sufficient suitable sites. The costs could be staggering.
Locations
Options include Street Lighting, Traffic Lights, CCTV masts, Bus Shelters and other Street Furniture. With shorter ranges, building rooftops (as used for 4G) are less attractive and the aim will be to keep sites nearer to ground level—as with urban Wi-Fi.
Shared Sites
WiFi is straight competition using the same frequencies; in contrast, 5G is provider-specific. Attractive as it might be to create a ‘shared access network’, that is not how 5G has been designed.
The licensing model auctions specific frequencies to different service providers so the antennae and radio gear is provider-specific. As with 4G, site sharing will likely be mandated and competing providers will each install their separate equipment at the site. Whether this is practical within a street furniture installation is debatable—likely not for more than a couple of carriers. This raises the issue that cities are going to be forced to approve multiple sets of street furniture installations—yet many have started legal action to force the opposite.
As Peter’s article shows, many UK cities that already have lucrative single carrier contracts for WiFi-enabled street furniture are unwilling to allow competition.
Rollout
There are many capacity and technology issues driving 5G rollout. Car manufacturers see it as essential for future automated vehicles; mobile cell sites in trains and busses need the high bandwidth; and there will be needs that we do not yet have.
Many cities, motivated by new revenue streams possible from monopoly deals, see a free-for-all as unacceptable. City planning and revenue models may well be the road block in 5G implementation—not the technology.
This article was published in the
February 2019
edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:6 Issue:1
©2019 TMC Consulting