5G mobile
data will be so reliable and fast most homes will no longer need a separate
home broadband connection, according to one of the companies planning to launch
a UK service.
Three UK's
chief executive told the Media there would be enough capacity on 5G to cope with
demand, meaning households would be able to save money by ending their
fixed-line contracts.
He predicts
consumers will use 13 times as much mobile data in 2025 as today.
But one
expert warned against "hype".
Three has
said it intends to launch its first 5G services in the UK as soon as the middle
of next year.
Its
announcement coincides with news from BT's mobile division, EE, that it has
switched on nine 5G trial sites in London.
Vodafone and
Telefonica-owned O2 have also bought spectrum to launch 5G services of their
own in the country.
Higher
capacity
In theory,
5G could offer download speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second or even 20Gbps -
although these are unlikely to be attained for many years if at all.
Most
handsets are not yet capable of pushing 4G speeds to their limits, so UK
networks are under pressure to convince the public of the need to upgrade
having spent more than had been predicted on the spectrum auctioned to date.
As part of
its pitch, Three is making the case that 5G will offer a "genuine
alternative" to fixed-line copper and fibre services.
"Maybe
not for the whole country, but certainly a significant majority of the country,
I strongly believe 5G can offer a good enough home broadband experience for
people to effectively ditch their copper [or fibre] connection," said
David Dyson, Three UK's chief executive.
"The
challenge in terms of why we can't do that today is that the mobile networks
don't have the capacity with 3G or 4G. 5G changes all of that."
Capacity
refers to the amount of data that can be handled at any one time rather than
the speed.
Three
already provides a 4G-based "unlimited data" home broadband service
in London, called Relish, which it acquired last year.
But Mr Dyson
said the business had to be careful how many people it signed up, to prevent
its service degrading.
This, he said,
would not be a problem with 5G.
But one
industry-watcher said it was still unclear how reliable the technology would
be.
"Stability
is important for video streaming at HD and Ultra HD quality levels, and
paramount for the gaming community," said Andrew Ferguson, from the news
site Thinkbroadband.
"Full-fibre
services are going to beat 5G as you have a connection as stable as the one
that will be feeding the mobile masts and thus the variables of signal strength
dropping due to a bus passing the home are avoided."
The
government is currently pursuing a target of "full-fibre" broadband
coverage to the whole UK by 2033, in which high-speed optical cables are used
to bring data right up to buildings without having to rely on slower copper for
part of the journey.
At present,
only 5% of all properties have access to the full-fibre connections, according
to the regulator Ofcom.
But Three's
chief executive suggested the cost involved could help make 5G a more
attractive option.
"Fibre-to-the-home
for the small number of customers who value it and need it will probably
provide a faster speed," Mr Dyson said.
"But I
think for the majority of people, 5G will be a genuine alternative.
"It's
still quite unclear to me, as I'm sure it is to many people, what is going to
be the price of all these fibre-to-the-home deployments when it actually
arrives
"It's
expensive to dig up roads. It takes a lot of time and money.
"It's
much cheaper and quicker to provide that connectivity via a wireless
connection."
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