Presented at the Cluster 1/4 UK Spectrum Policy Forum meeting More information is available http://www.techuk.org/about/uk-spectrum-policy-forum

1. Creating a vision
for UK leadership in 5G
Simon Pike
(chair of Spectrum Policy Forum, Cluster 4)
spectrum@simonpike.eu

2. Simon Pike
The UK landscape for 5G
European Commission: “5G for Europe: An Action Plan”
- Preliminary trials from 2017, and pre-commercial trials from 2018
- One major city in each EU Member to be “5G enabled” by end of 2020
Chancellor’s Autumn Statement
- UK Investment of £740 million, shared between 5G and FTTH
NIC Report: “Connected Future”
- “Mobile connectivity has become a necessity”
- It makes Seven Recommendations
FCCG: “UK Strategy and plan for 5G and Digitisation ...”
- Advising DCMS on how to be a world leader in 5G
- Eight key actions and recommendations
Green Paper: “Building our Industrial Strategy”
- Objective “to improve living standards and economic growth by
increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country”
- Mentions 5G, in the context of Research & Innovation and Infrastructure

3. Simon Pike
The Seven NIC Recommendations
1 Government responsibility for digital infrastructure in one place
2 Motorways must have mobile communications fit for the future
3 Rail passengers should have high capacity wireless connectivity
4 Local government should facilitate infrastructure deployment
5 Government and Ofcom should develop coverage metrics
6 Regulatory regime to support sharing of telecoms infrastructure
7 Government and Ofcom must keep pace with rapid evolution
- In spectrum allocation and regulatory decisions
Recommendations 2 & 3 directly affect investment priorities for 5G
The other recommendations are enablers

4. Simon Pike
The Autumn Statement announcement
2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Fibre & 5G 25 150 275 290 *
Table 3.1: National Productivity Investment Fund (£ million)
Assumptions:
- Divided roughly equally between 5G and FTTH
- 5G weighted towards later years
What could £370 million provide?
- If staff, >1000 headcount by 2020
- If macrocells, several thousand sites *
- If small cells, several tens of thousand sites *
To what extent should this investment promote UK Industrial
Strategy, as well as connectivity?
* source: from Real Wireless Future Use Cases study, Table 7
In practice, a combination
of the three

5. Simon Pike
FCCG Report – characterising the four phases of 5G
R&D
Testbeds &
trials
Early
deployment
Commercial-
isation
Network
coverage
A few cells A small area Sufficient for
realistic user
experience
Rollout across
the country
Objective Technology
validation
Evaluation &
verification
- Showcases
- Applications
trials
Return on
investment
Terminals Test
equipment
19 inch Rack Representative Commercial
production
UK Cost £ tens
millions
£ tens
millions
£ hundreds
millions
£ billions
(inc terminals)
Note: For meaningful trials of applications , the coverage
must be extensive enough, and the terminals representative
enough, for the user experience to be realistic

6. Simon Pike
What would make the UK a world leader in 5G?
The Government commitment to investment is very welcome
- And very important as a catalyst
- The scale and timing of the investment fits best with early deployment
However, it is small in comparison to some other countries
Most national 5G strategies focus on broadband to consumers
- Including the Commission’s 5G Action Plan
- Apart from USA, which is focussing on fixed wireless access
The UK cannot become a major manufacturing player in consumer
terminals or infrastructure for existing mobile bands
- There may be opportunities in verticals, applications or mm-waves
The NIC Report focuses on motorways and railways for deployment
- For motorways, the benefit is dependent on installations in vehicles and the
penetration of consumer terminals
- Both will be very limited in the early years of 5G
Could the UK take global leadership in broadband to trains using 5G?

7. Simon Pike
Policy objectives of providing 5G backhaul to trains
Fulfils the NIC Recommendation on high capacity connectivity to trains
- Perhaps completing the trunk rail network by end 2020
- This is consistent with the available investment
All mobile customers will benefit, without needing to obtain a 5G terminal
The deployment can be readily divided between a number of providers
- Without duplication of effort or coverage
It would provide a good opportunity for early deployment of mm-waves
- e.g. for high capacity in railway termini
The specialist nature of the equipment would offer opportunities to UK
industry
- e.g. in mm-wave technology
It would inherently include the Nations of Scotland and Wales
Making this a national strategy will unlock bureaucracy in the railway sector
It could be used as a hub for a wide range of trials
- The rail network passes through a very wide range
of UK topographies and demographics