Given the hype that preceded 5G’s debut here in December 2019, you’d expect us all to be raving about blistering download speeds and innovative video applications by now.
But the period dominated by the covid-19 pandemic turned out to be one of more mundane and low-key network building for the three mobile operators, which between them have invested hundreds of millions of dollars on upgrading cell sites to 5G.
Their network maps still show spotty coverage in the main centres. I live just off Oriental Parade, a few minutes from Courtenay Place in Wellington, but still can’t get 5G coverage. That will change next year as the network coverage fills in. Spark wants to have “approximately 90% of the population” able to access 5G by the end of 2023.
“This is assuming the necessary spectrum is made available by the New Zealand government,” Spark said.
Vodafone, in the process of rebranding as One New Zealand, aims to have 4G or 5G available across its entire network by Aug 31, 2024, as it seeks to retire its ageing 3G network. 2Degrees was a late starter in building 5G, but it is catching up fast.
Vodafone NZ’s Tony Baird (left) and Nokia’s Tommi Uitto signing a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on developing 5G applications in Wellington last week.
5G for wireless broadband
There’s a wide selection of 5G-compatible handsets on the market now. But 5G so far just represents an upsell opportunity for the mobile operators, particularly for fixed wireless broadband. Vodafone, Spark and 2Degrees offer 5G-based unlimited data plans to those in the limited-coverage areas, typically priced between $65 and $85 depending on the contract terms.
Benchmarking of download speeds definitely shows a boost for 5G users over 4G, although upload speeds are still relatively pedestrian. That’s because this first iteration of 5G is still dependent on using the 4G network. That is how our mobile providers, and most others around the world where commercial services have launched in 85 countries, started their 5G journey.
Arguably, the biggest impact 5G has had for consumers to date is simply in freeing up 4G network capacity in parts of our large cities, so that we enjoy a better experience at peak usage times on our plain old 4G devices.
The options for really innovative services open up with the next upgrade to standalone 5G, which allows for more advanced capabilities such as cloud gaming, augmented and virtual reality and industrial applications. That’s on the roadmap for all three operators in the next few years.
But the potential use cases are still up in the air. Nokia, which has supplied equipment to Vodafone for around 30 years since the Bell South days, last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Vodafone to collaborate on developing new applications and services to speed 5G adoption.
Taking 5G private
I asked Tommi Uitto, the president of mobile networks at Nokia, who was in Wellington last week, what the most promising 5G application is in the world of standalone 5G.
Private 5G networks, was his answer. It involves manufacturers, warehouse and logistics operators, airports and ports using 5G to connect and automate equipment wirelessly over one high-speed network dedicated to their private use.
That seems like an expensive option for most New Zealand manufacturers. A cheaper alternative is “network slicing”, which allows a user to buy access to a dedicated slice of 5G network capacity on a mobile operator’s network to run its applications.
Tony Baird, Vodafone’s wholesale and infrastructure director, said the company was already trialling network slicing with public sector agencies.
“I can’t say the agencies we are doing that work with,” he told me.
“But some of the applications will be things like mission-critical radio, which we think will be very important as some of these agencies are looking to have data use cases, not just voice use cases.”
Baird sees potential for 5G-powered private and sliced networks at New Zealand ports and on farms and orchards, where they could be used to connect IoT (internet of things) devices for automating systems and gathering data. But we don’t have the industrial base or, I’d argue, the pressing need for real-time, high-speed network connectivity in most cases, beyond what’s available with existing wireless technology.
5G and the Metaverse
Uitto went on to outline Nokia’s vision for 2030, which was an eye-opener for me: the Finnish network equipment maker is embracing the “metaverse” – the term for the next generation of immersive virtual-reality technologies. That’s right, Nokia sees a big role for itself connecting the augmented reality glasses, VR headsets and other technology that will power Mark Zuckerberg’s virtual world of the future. Nokia also sees enterprise and industrial versions of the metaverse proliferating for business meetings and creating digital twins of buildings, equipment and infrastructure.
I expressed my scepticism at this, based on the slow and troubled evolution of XR (mixed reality) technology towards something that people would want to use on a day-to-day basis.
“Remember, it’s a 2030 vision, it’s not a 2023,” Uitto pointed out.
“It will take a few years before we have something meaningful, but the good thing is that there’s just so much interest and people have started to understand why this would be so big.”
This “fusion” of the physical and digital world is a major driver of mobile network innovation, Uitto said. In the metaverse, geolocation will need to be mapped down to the centimetre, and network lag will have to be slashed, to deliver convincing conversations between virtual avatars. The density of connections in a given area will multiply as more devices are communicating with the network. Thousands of Nokia engineers are currently beavering away on meeting those needs in future 5G-Advanced and 6G equipment upgrades.
5G is still in search of its killer application, even if millions will adopt it by default in the next few years as they upgrade their phones and 5G network coverage improves.
That’s progress. But if the metaverse is the real answer-driver of 5G innovation this decade, are we asking the right question?
Originally published on BusinessDesk.co.nz
Photo credit: Jack Sloop, Unsplash
PETER GRIFFIN 