Spectrum, mobile & wireless update May 2017

OpenSignal and Which? published follow-ups to the State of Mobile Networks: UK report published in April 2017 (also see details of Which? and OpenSignal reports from October 2016 and April 2016), reporting how the top 20 U.K. urban areas rank in terms of 4G speed and coverage. Stoke-on-Trent had the fastest average 4G speeds at 26.4 Mbit/s; London was in 16th place at 20.5 Mbit/s. Middlesbrough topped the 4G availability rankings with users connected to a 4G service 82.7% of the time, while London was again in 16th place at 73.6%. The annual Which? mobile phone customer satisfaction survey rated EE and Vodafone as  the two worst providers; on a related note, Ofcom announced plans to make it quicker and easier to switch between mobile providers this month.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) released the results of its survey of mobile connectivity which found that 70% of firms experience mobile ‘non-spots’, areas of no mobile coverage by any operator, or ‘partial not-spots’, where there is some coverage but not from all networks, in their local area. The proportion of companies based in rural areas which report such issues (91%) is considerably higher than those in inner cities (56%). BCC called for the Government and Ofcom to do more to improve the quality of mobile services, as described in its manifesto for the 2017 General Election.

New data from the U.S. National Centre for Health Statistics revealed that the second 6 months of 2016 was the first time that a majority of American homes were mobile-only, with no landline: 50.8% of American homes did not have a landline telephone but did have at least one mobile phone during this period. Also see commentary from Network World.

The European Commission announced that the European Parliament, the European Council and the Commission had reached a political agreement on the WiFi4EU initiative, which supports free public WiFi hotspots in local communities across the EU. The three European Union institutions will ensure that €120 million is assigned to fund equipment for public free WiFi services in 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities in all Member States. See previous updates from December 2016 and September 2016 for more background on WiFi4EU.

Nominet announced the next phase of its TV white space (TVWS) broadband initiative, with installations beginning in Llanarth Parish, Monmouthshire. The project will deliver broadband connectivity to the local community in Llanarth using dynamic spectrum management. See this previous update from November 2016 for more background on Nominet’s activity in this area.

BBC News reported that mobile phone coverage is to be provided in London Underground tunnels, with Transport for London and the Mayor of London expected to invite bids shortly. WiFi is currently available at over 250 Tube and 79 London Overground stations via a partnership between Transport for London and Virgin Media.

ISP Review reported on plans by SpaceX to launch a global constellation of 4,425 small low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites  from 2019, which will support ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 1Gbit/s and low latency times of 25-35ms.

Ofcom published a new consultation on its technical analysis of coexistence issues between future mobile services in the 700 MHz band and digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the adjacent band. In November 2014 Ofcom decided that the 700 MHz spectrum band (currently used for DTT and wireless microphones used for programme making and special events, PMSE) would be repurposed for mobile data services. More background on this here. The 700 MHz band is expected to be available for mobile broadband use by 2020. Ofcom’s analysis found that a small number of households may be affected by interference from mobile base stations in the 700 MHz band, that there is a minimal risk of interference from mobile handsets and that receiver filters will be the most technically effective means to mitigate interference from handsets and base stations. Also see commentary from ISP Review.

5G developments:

• Qualcomm published new research on the economic impact of 5G on the automotive industry: it is estimated that by 2035, 5G will enable more than $2.4 trillion in total economic output across the automotive sector, its supply chain, and its customers.
• The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) published a new guide to 5G networks for policy makers, which “calls on the Government and Ofcom to adopt a bold and ambitious approach in making the right decisions now to deliver the world class digital infrastructure that consumers and business will need over the next decade.” Also see commentary from ISP Review.
• In the U.S. T-Mobile announced plans for nationwide 5G coverage by 2020, using the 600 MHz band recently purchased for $8 billion from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Also see this related T-Mobile blog post. The company will focus on providing coverage rather than high speeds.
• Ericsson announced a demonstration of streaming live sporting events in 360-degree Virtual Reality via 5G and a partnership with Celcom Axiata Berhad which performed Malaysia's first ever 5G trial.
• Cisco announced that, in partnership with Samsung  and Verizon, it had completed the first of their eleven 5G trial networks in the U.S. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is the first of the trials to tackle a multi-vendor deployment of 5G.
• Verizon announced the acquisition of Straight Path spectrum to accelerate its 5G deployment. Also see commentary from Ars Technica.
• Nokia announced the first in a series of 5G collaborations with Japanese operator KDDI to simulate future 5G network demands, providing  1 Gbit/s connectivity inside an apartment block using Nokia radio technology in the 28GHz band. The trial demonstrates how 5G technology could be used inside apartment blocks to meet demand for wireless  high speed broadband in megacities such as Tokyo, the most densely populated metropolitan area in the world.
• ZDnet reported that Singapore is letting operators test 5G services for free over the next two years, as part of efforts to spur the industry and uncover potential 5G use cases; more on this here.