A new mobile generation - riding the 5G wave

Aaron White and David Coulling of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP look at 5G mobile technology and the challenges of deploying 5G mobile networks in the UK.

This article first appeared in the December 2017 issue of PLC Magazine.

The next generation of mobile technology, 5G, has been on the horizon for a number of years. It is only now that momentum is building in the development of 5G that public excitement is growing around the possible services and applications that 5G technologies will support.

5G is designed to provide greater capacity for wireless networks, more reliability and faster speeds, and will enable new services, such as massive internet of things. Some of the features that users can look forward to include 360-degree panoramic virtual reality video, unlimited cloud storage and instant access to applications without having to download or install them. Operators such as China Mobile are conducting proof-ofconcept system fi eld trials in 2017, and plan to move to large-scale pre-commercial 5G trials in 2018. The fi rst wave of commercial 5G services and applications is expected to be launched by operators in South Korea, Japan, China, the US, Europe and the Middle East as early as 2020.

This article looks at:

• The types of services and applications that 5G technology is expected to deliver.
• Spectrum requirements for 5G.
• Some of the regulatory and commercial challenges in deploying 5G infrastructure in the UK.
• How new models for infrastructure ownership and collaboration will be required to deploy high-quality 5G infrastructure cost-effectively.
• Some of the different supporting legal structures for these new infrastructure models, their advantages and disadvantages, and practical considerations for the parties involved.

Please click here to download the full article.

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