Guernsey hosts major CI 5G summit

Tuesday 27 November 2018

Government officials, senior telecom and digital industry leaders, along with experts from the UK have all come together for the Channel Islands' first 5G summit.

An event organised by the pan Channel Islands telecoms regulator CICRA, it gave an opportunity to discuss the opportunities for the islands as the advent of 5G technology draws nearer.

In the words of Sure's Chief Marketing Officer, Alistair Beck, where 4G was making 3G slightly faster, 5G would be making it ultra fast. Those new speeds will not only speed up downloads and uploads, but also facilitate whole new types of technology. 

"This is the next version of mobile technology," Mr Beck said.

"3G started the transformation to data, and 4G made it fast, but 5G is going to make it ultra fast. The jump at first made things a bit better, but this will be transformational for the digital world. Imagine if Guernsey has ultra fast broadband everywhere, for everyone. We are talking fibre light speeds, two to 10 times faster than you have ever experienced."

Sure's predicted 5G speeds. The actual government standards for what speeds are required are not yet set. 

Testing of the new technology in both islands is already kicking off, with some developer packages available in Guernsey, and just last week JT announcing it would be looking to launch its new network in Jersey and Guernsey in 2021.

But while any full network tests are yet to begin, all of the telecoms companies in the islands, have said they will begin their testing next year in both islands.

"Airtel-Vodafone believe there are three critical success factors to make 5G economically and environmentally viable in the Channel Islands: Fibre backhaul, creating the 5G use cases, and network sharing to ensure minimal environmental impact.," Sid Ahlawat, Airtel CEO, said.

"Mobility is key to the workforce of the future as well as the digital natives of today, as 5G will offer a viable alternative to fibre. Together with our tried, tested and trusted partners, Airtel, Vodafone and Nokia, we have the global expertise to deliver a world class 5G network in the Channel Islands, but the digital services providers need to take advantage of this and build the use cases."

With estimates that 5G could account for as many as 1.4 billion connections and networks covering one third of the world's population by 2025, the global impact of this new technology will be profound.

Pictured: Colin Vaudin, States of Guernsey Chief Information Officer. He said they had a clear policy to support the latest 5G technology, and as governments, they would be providing incentives for operators to implement the tech within two years in order to put Guernsey at the forefront of Europe.

5G is more than a new generation of technologies: it denotes a new era in which connectivity will become increasingly fluid and flexible. 5G networks will adapt to applications and performance will be tailored precisely to the needs of the user. CICRA has worked closely with all stakeholders to put together the 5G Summit, to consider up-to-date information and the benefits 5G could deliver for the islands, which are well placed to take advantage of this new technology, enhancing our digital sectors, and potentially providing new jobs and revenues.

One key topic of conversation at the event itself was network sharing, and how that might affect the infrastructure the islands need. If companies were to network share, JT predicted it could see the number of sites needed to run the network reduced by around a third. But if network sharing did not work out, an additional 200 sites would be needed on top of the current 400 to allow for the extra capacity.

Pictured: Tim Ringsdore. 

Tim Ringsdore, Director at the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities, said the summit was an extremely exciting event that they had worked with every stakeholder to put on.

"Paraphrasing, this is the biggest evolution of mobile technology ever," he said.

"This will allow the Channel Islands to remain at the forefront of technology, and the key advantage will be that we will be prepared for new technologies we cannot even think of yet, that we do not know are coming.

"The launch itself is still to be decided by the operators, but testing is underway and that is an important aspect of preparing for the platform."

Mr Ringsdore also said of any concerns people may have over the safety of the new technology that CICRA always monitor the latest research and adhere to any advice on health and safety, with a number of systems in place. He said that has been happening for some years, and would continue to do so with the introduction of 5G. 

Pictured top: Alistair Beck from Sure.