5G: How ready is Australia for the next generation?
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5G: How ready is Australia for the next generation?
CONTENTS
3 Introduction
5 Characteristics of 5G
11 Current state of play in Australia and how to deliver a return on investment
18 What does it mean for Australian Industry?
20 Conclusion
With thanks to following industry experts for their ideas and thought-leadership:
Chris Althaus
CEO, Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA)
Chris was appointed as CEO of AMTA in 2005. AMTA is the peak industry organisation representing Australia’s mobile
telecommunications sector and operates programs covering all aspects of the mobile ecosystem. Prior to joining AMTA, Chris held
Chief Executive roles in leading national industry associations.
Will Heapy
Director of Planning and Strategy, Axicom
Prior to joining Axicom Will spent 14 years working with Crown Castle including 7 years in the United States most recently as
VP Finance, Small Cells and Fibre. William holds an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management and is a CPA with a
Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce & Accounting.
Seán O’Halloran
CEO, Axicom
Seán has been working in the technology and telecommunications industry across ANZ and Asia Pacific for nearly 30 years. Seán
has significant experience in Executive General Management, Strategic Sales/Business Development Management and Engineering
Network Services roles. Prior to joining Axicom in 2016, Seán held senior roles in Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, and MCI (now Verizon).
Laurie Patton
CEO, Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA)
Laurie Patton is CEO of ASCA, the NFP peak body representing people and organisations spearheading moves to make our
communities more liveable, more sustainable and more technologically empowered. From 2014 to 2017 Laurie was CEO / Executive
Director of Internet Australia, a chapter of the global Internet Society.
Rob Zagarella
Founder & CEO, National Narrowband Network Communications (NNNCo)
Rob is founder and CEO of NNNCo, an Australian company building and operating a national narrowband network for IoT as an
end-to-end scalable carrier service over a shared network. Rob’s an innovator and inventor in IoT in the area of machine-to-machine
sensing, communications, wide area networking and enterprise software.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Australia is accelerating towards 5G. Optus in January revealed plans to begin the roll out of 5G technology in
Australia by early 2019 with a fixed wireless product in key metro areas. At the same time Telstra announced
the opening of a 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast with a view to support the early commercial
deployment of 5G mobile services.
Telstra had already suggested some deployment of services in 2020, which is the same year Vodafone Australia
says it wants to make some 5G services available.
This whitepaper provides an important update on progress towards the arrival of the next generation of
networking in Australia.
We wanted to take the opportunity to ask a number of important questions that are raised frequently in our
conversations with partners and customers. In this whitepaper we looked for answers to three questions;
1. What are the characteristics of 5G?
In addition to the core standards that will underpin 5G networks, the generation also depends on some new
and emerging technologies and capabilities such as millimetre waves, small cells, beamforming, Massive MIMO
(Multiple Input Multiple Output) and full duplex transmission.
2. What is the current state of play in Australia?
While the technology is increasingly settled, industry, customers, and regulators still have work to do. Then
there are ongoing discussions and debates around the subject of spectrum allocation. There is also the
perennial issue of site access as it concerns the different requirements of 5G, especially with the development
of small cells. This is important for operators who will need to secure real estate early to ensure they can
provide the best quality networks. The use of multi-purpose macro towers also adds some complexity
to current arrangements on this issue. But perhaps the biggest, and as yet unresolved matter concerns
how operators will deliver a return on investment to justify the investment they will need to make in new
infrastructure.
3 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
3. What does it mean for the Australian industry?
The government is driving forward with its consultations across a range of issues such as spectrum allocation locally
as well as harmonisation efforts internationally. It also wants to work with industry to streamline arrangements to
allow mobile carriers to deploy infrastructure more quickly. It’s a live issue today for all four large carriers — Telstra,
Optus, Vodafone and TPG are all thinking about their deployments.
5G is different. Previous step changes, such as that from 3G to 4G, were, with some variations, homogeneous
technology evolutions from their predecessors.
Generally speaking these changes involved either greater data carrying capacity or better coverage in terms of range
or building penetration. Neither 3G or 4G were developed to support specific use cases. Instead, they were simply
designed to do a better job of carrying voice and data.
However, 5G will use a much greater range of technologies over a much greater range of frequencies. And it is
designed from the outset to serve a much greater range of applications.
As is often the case with any technology ecosystem, the needs of users and the response of developers has meant
the networks have adjusted to demand. For instance, since the introduction of 4G there have been numerous
developments to cater for specific use cases.
Among the most notable are CAT-M1 and NB-IoT for IoT applications, and LTE-Broadcast to alleviate the load that
popular real-time video content imposes on the network.
This time, however, 5G has been designed from the outset to cater for a whole range of different use cases.
4 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
INTRODUCTION
Characteristics of 5G
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5G
For consumers, or at least those aware of 5G, the standout feature is greater throughput and the promise of much
faster performance. However, it is in the field of business-to-business networking that 5G will have its biggest impact
and, here, other issues are just as critical.
New technologies are being developed that will support the emerging Internet of Things - a network that will see the
deployment of billions of devices, the vast majority of which will provide only minimal and simple data points.
Yet the sum of these devices and their data will revolutionise the way business works driving greater automation,
fuelling applications like predictive maintenance, and dramatically improving service levels to companies and their
customers.
Given this scale of deployment, these devices will be built with batteries that will last a full decade, thus spanning
the likely lifetime of the next generation of networks.
The new technologies and approaches underpinning 5G will enable carriers to provide service levels and
functionality tailored to the specific needs of business - including services such as network slicing.
We will outline these key technologies, which include millimetre waves, small cell, Massive MIMO and beamforming
shortly.
The sum of these devices and their data
will revolutionise the way business works
driving greater automation, fuelling
applications like predictive maintenance,
and dramatically improving
service levels to companies
and their customers.
5 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5G
Characteristics of 5G
But first, to understand the impact and the necessity of new technologies let’s begin with the specification
requirements that underpin 5G:
5G enables the Internet of Things to deliver on the
promise of industrial ubiquity at global scale.
6 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5G
Characteristics of 5G
Low latency
5G will have a much lower latency than 4G in turn opening up a new world of applications. For
instance, in a paper by Ericsson, Opportunities in 5G, The View from Eight Industries, the authors note:
“5G will enable the quick reaction time required for operating machinery using haptic control, which
allows the remote operator to ‘feel’what is going on in the machine’s environment. A doctor could, for
instance, ‘feel’ his patient’s body in a distant operating room to avoid slicing through a vein; a machine
operator could work remotely with great precision.”
Low latency is also a key requirement for the quick reaction times needed for what is considered one of
the most important applications to benefit from 5G — autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.
Support for IoT
The Internet of Things is expected to be the biggest use case for 5G according to the Ericsson paper.
“Industries that will benefit the most from 5G are those that connect something in the physical
world to the internet in order to create innovative products or services, provide a better customer
experience, increase efficiency, or improve safety.”
5G enables the IoT to deliver on the promise of industrial ubiquity at global scale. Indeed 5G is
designed from the outset to cater for the specific requirements of IoT: the ability to support simple low
cost devices that can run for a decade or more on battery power and that send and receive only small
packets of data.
Network slicing
On today’s cellular networks, with limited exceptions, all devices are equal and must compete for
bandwidth when usage approaches the network’s maximum capacity.
Network slicing will allow networks to be built with maximum flexibility in mind. For carriers the big
win is that they will be able to slice their network to differentiate one service from another based the
service requirements of their clients.
For the client, it would experience its network slice as if it were a physically separate network with
defined bandwidth, and latency. Such a network would also provide increased security by isolating its
users from others on the overall 5G network.
Key Technologies
Several new technologies have emerged including the core components of 5G networks; millimetre
waves, small cells, Massive MIMO, beamforming and full duplex. Likewise current technologies like
macrocells are set to further evolve.
7 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5GCharacteristics of 5G
Millimetre waves
Most devices today use frequencies below 6 GHz. But with the explosion of new devices and
connections on the networks, this creates problems for users such as more dropped connections and
slower speeds as the network reaches its capacity.
The solution is to find a way to release more spectrum. To this end the goal is to use shorter millimetre
waves in an area of spectrum not utilised by mobile devices before — typically in the range between 30
and 300 GHz.
Small cells
But, of course, this comes with its own problems. For instance, millimetre waves don’t travel well
through buildings, or foliage for that matter, and they tend not to cope well with bad weather.
Also, today’s large high power towers broadcast over long distances but as millimetre waves are more
effected by obstacles an alternative is needed.
Small cells can mitigate some of these problems. They can be located much closer to where
communication is required, avoiding most if not all obstacles. However each small cell site requires
permissions from landowners and/or local authorities, power and a backhaul link. The administrative
and logistical hurdles for each site may be almost as great as for a macro cell. This is a significant issue
for operators who will need to act early to secure the real estate that lets them provide the highest
quality networks.
Massive MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)
Radio signals never travel over only one route between transmitter and receiver: they are reflected
off obstacles, so the receiver typically sees multiple signals arriving at slightly different times and at
considerably lower strength than the direct signal.
In traditional radio systems these secondary signals cause interference and limit performance. Today,
highly sophisticated algorithms are able to use multiple receive antennas to decode multiple signals
from multiple transmitting antennas and increase the overall throughput.
Beamforming
Beamforming algorithms can also plot the best transmission route to each user, and send individual
data packets in many different directions, bouncing them off buildings and other objects in a precisely
coordinated pattern.
Antenna size is a function of frequency so with today’s cellular networks the size of the antenna limits
the number that can be used. With the very small antennas that the new 26GHz frequencies use,
8 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5GCharacteristics of 5G
communication using up to 128 transmit and 128 receive antennas has already been demonstrated.
At these very high frequencies a different kind of beamforming can also be used. Radio antennas can
be omnidirectional or produce a tightly focused beam. Beamforming antennas are able to produce
multiple highly focused and agile beams that focus on individual devices, even when these are motion.
This enables the available spectrum in any given location to deliver high bandwidth to more users than
would otherwise be possible.
Full duplex
Radio systems do not transmit and receive simultaneously on the same frequency — full duplex
communication. The high power of the transmitted signal would swamp the much weaker received
signal.
Overcoming this interference presents considerable challenges. However the prospect is extremely
attractive as full duplex communication could significantly increase network capacity. To this end the
5G standard incorporates specification for full duplex, but full duplex will not be supported in initial
deployments.
Role of macro towers
The emergence of small cells inevitably leads to a discussion on the role of macro towers. In the past
each new generation of broadband has typically increased the demand and the functionality of towers.
It seems that is likely again.
At an investment conference in the US last year, run by Wells Fargo, the prevailing view was that macro
towers would function as core infrastructure in 5G. In a research note after the conference, Jennifer
Fritzsche focused on predictions that, “There will be thousands of mini data centres at the base of the
towers as more of this fibre from C-RAN (Cloud RAN) is centralised in one location and data moves
closer to the edge.”
9 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CHARACTERISTICS OF 5GSOME LESSONS ON SMALL CELL ROLLOUTS
As Australia’s telcos ponder the challenges they may US carriers also face jurisdictional hurdles that should
encounter when contemplating small cell rollouts be expected in Australia.
it is instructive to consider examples from the US
market where, with four key carriers all competing The willingness to provide access varies wildly from
aggressively, and no one carrier with the same kind jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Heapy says. But the issue
of dominant market share that exists in Australia, the isn’t necessarily the form factor of the equipment.
competitive tensions are different. Instead it’s literally getting it approved through the
jurisdiction.
“Over there you have four carriers all trying to jump
over each other to increase their output,” says Will “And then, even if you get that, you have to get access
Heapy, Axicom’s Director of Planning and Strategy. to the street furniture such as the light poles to which
you have to affix the unit,” he says.
“And one way they work to differentiate themselves is
to deploy a greater and more dense network.” The law in Australia grants carriers significant rights
for access. In the US, the government introduced
He says the US carriers have extensively used small a set of laws designed to stop jurisdictions slowing
cell solutions to alleviate capacity constraints in their up access. The so-called shop clock rules mean a
networks in high density urban areas. jurisdiction only gets a certain amount of time to
evaluate applications for a deployment — and that is
One of the questions that is consistently asked the same for both macro and small cell deployment.
around 5G rollout in Australia is where carriers will “That has helped speed the process up,” Heapy says
find the ROI to justify the investment needed to build
infrastructure such as small cell networks. There are also problems with back-hauling the
small cells with fibre. “Getting access to premises
“It doesn’t seem to me that carriers are awash with to run fibre, and power, to lots of small cells
free capital so there will always be the conversation is challenging. In fact, that is the most time
internally about how to best invest that capital,” consuming aspect,” he says.
Heapy says.
The US situation is demand led: “In the US there is
certainly the need from the subscriber base for an
enhanced level of capacity. I’m not sure that has been
as loud in Australia,” he says. “Over there you have four carriers
Indeed, the revenue models are quite different.
all trying to jump over eachother
Unlimited plans are more common in the US, whereas to increase their output . . .
in Australia users typically get a base level of data and and one way they work to
then buy extra inside the month if they blow their
differentiate themselves
data caps.
is to deploy a greater and
For US carriers the goal is customer retention. Small more dense network.”
cells will make them more money if they help retain
customers.
- Will Heapy
Axicom’s Director of
Planning and Strategy
10 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?Current state of play in Australia
CURRENT STATE OF PLAY
To ensure Australia captures the economies of scale, the country should align both in spectrum and deployment
with global standards and approaches.
Standards
The major determinant of progress towards 5G is the for 5G in addition to the frequencies used today for
development of standards by 3GPP. These standards 3G and 4G.
are produced in a series of releases.
Australia will need to follow international decisions on
Release 15 and 16 define 5G. In mid-2016 the industry spectrum for 5G, but must cater for local issues, such
agreed to a plan to accelerate the 5G standardisation as existing users.
schedule and to split the specification of Release 15
into two phases - Release 15 NSA (non-standalone) as The Australian Communications and Media Authority
a priority and Release 15 Full (with standalone) at a (ACMA) is already well advanced in 5G spectrum
later date in 2018. Release 15 NSA was completed at planning. In September 2017 it proposed an
the end of December 2017. accelerated process for releasing spectrum in the
millimetre wavelength band for 5G broadband, and
The full Release 15 is the most important for issued a consultation paper on the topic.
equipment designers and manufacturers.
Site access
3GPP Release 16 is set to be completed in late 2019
and will cover the remaining 5G use cases and As with previous new network generations, site
requirements, including support for the massive access will be critical to success. More so, in fact, with
INTERNET OF THINGS and ultra-high reliability and the emergence of small cells. This is one of the most
low-latency applications. important distinctions between 4G and 5G network
infrastructure.
Together these two releases cover all the 5G use
cases and requirements being specified by the Third
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the
International Telecommunication Union.
Spectrum requirements
A major regulatory hurdle facing 5G implementation
plans is spectrum allocation. In particular frequencies
above 26GHz (much higher than used by today’s
mobile networks) have been allocated internationally
11 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CURRENT STATE OF PLAYCurrent state of play in Australia
They will be needed to meet capacity demands and smoother deployment proposition for operators
because coverage at the new 26GHz frequencies is looking to roll out 5G.”
more limited than the frequencies at 3.5 MHz and
below used by 4G. However, he cautions, the Low Impact Facilities
Determination (LIFD) has been around for quite a
Australia already has well established and understood long time, and while it is a well-used instrument it has
regulations mandating access to private property become dated, “Most particularly, in relation to small
by network operators for cell sites and other cell technology. The LIFD doesn’t allow for a smooth
infrastructure, but the Government acknowledges deployment of small cells, simply because the old
that these will need to change for 5G. instrument is quite prescriptive in terms of describing
what’s allowed under the determination.”
It says it is “progressively working to modernise the
regulatory architecture to ensure that the regulatory As to the timing, announcements earlier this year by
and policy settings flexibly respond to the current and Australia’s biggest carriers suggest the shift to 5G is
future needs of the communications sector.” accelerating and that the time scale for initial delivery
looks more like the end of this decade than the start
There is more work to do, according to market of the next.
participants. Australian Mobile Telecommunications
Association (AMTA) CEO, Chris Althaus, says, “There Earlier this year, Optus revealed plans to begin the roll
has been a series of reforms to the low impact out of 5G technology in Australia by early 2019 with a
facilities determination that will basically allow a fixed wireless product in key metro areas.
Almost simultaneously, Telstra announced the
Announcements earlier this opening of a 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast
year by Australia’s biggest where it will test mobile technologies in Australian
conditions with a view to supporting the early
carriers suggest the shift to 5G
commercial deployment of 5G mobile services.
is accelerating and that the time
scale for initial delivery looks Two years ago, Telstra announced that it would have
more like the end of this decade a trial 5G network in operation by the time of the
2018 Commonwealth Games and indeed it has been
than the start of the next.
active with 5G trials on the Gold Coast. It has hinted
at the “deployment of services in 2020”.
12 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CURRENT STATE OF PLAYCurrent state of play in Australia
still a significant challenge here.
“For as much potential as we can identify, as opposed
to other generational changes, the step into 5G and
increasingly into the industrial internet environment
is a new business model.”
He says a lot of work is being done, given the capex
required to buy the spectrum and densify networks,
to assess just how the business model stacks up.
Asked to nominate potential use cases, Heapy,
Vodafone Australia has a stated goal to have 5G Axicom’s Director of Planning and Strategy, says one
available in 2020. option wireless carriers are considering is whether
they can provide an effective broadband solution into
These dates could change to sooner rather than later. homes that already happen to be wired.
Over the last few months, dates for the expected
introduction of 5G services have come progressively “It’s certainly what I’ve seen the carriers use to
nearer. underwrite business plans for this evolution as well.
Currently, if they don’t have fibre within a particular
In the US, in the wake of the finalisation of Release suburb it’s very difficult for them to underwrite a
15, AT&T announced plans to provide 5G in late 2018, business plan to rip the street up and connect their
saying: “With these specifications now available, fibre broadband solution to that new suburban area,”
hardware, chipset and device manufacturers can start he says.
development. This allows us to provide mobile 5G
services sooner. We’re confident this latest standards “But it’s far less expensive if they are able to get
milestone will allow us to bring 5G to market faster similar performance for their prospective customers
without compromising its long-term vision.” through the deployment of 5G. It’s a unit on a piece
of street furniture and they can potentially wirelessly
Telstra with network supplier, Ericsson, has been a backhaul to a macro-site where they have the
consistent market first mover in cellular technology electronics to be able to provide that solution as well.
(The two were the first to test services using the new As such, I think home broadband solutions through
26GHz spectrum). 5G and then the emerging new industries resulting
from self-drive cars and machine-to-machine-related
innovation are going to accelerate 5G.”
Return on investment
Given these are early days, and we are still a couple of
years from the first real 5G rollout, it is not surprising
“For as much potential as we
that many in the industry are struggling to determine
where they will generate a return on investment. can identify, as opposed to other
generational changes, the step
For the time being the push seems to be more vendor into 5G and increasingly into the
driven than demand driven.
industrial internet environment is a
According to AMTA’s CEO Chris Althaus, “The vendors new business model.”
are putting forward cases around all manner of - Chris Althaus
applications and services. But I’d have to say there is CEO, AMTA
13 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CURRENT STATE OF PLAYOPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Much of the early running describing the value of 5G networks as their primary competitors—or are the
is coming from the supply side - vendors who provide real competitors for value and customer ownership
the physical equipment for the network infrastructure the FANGs (that is, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and
and have already invested in their own analysis of the Google) and other OTT players?”
opportunity. For now, at least, carriers and operators
themselves are still struggling to justify the huge In the paper, the McKinsey consultants claim the new
investment in spectrum and infrastructure required. technologies that fall under the umbrella of 5G offer
the chance to unlock tremendous economic growth.
In competitive markets it might simply be the They will do this “… by enabling, for example, smart
cost of doing business. If a smart phone customer cities, smart grids, autonomous vehicles, advanced
can download series 8 of Game of Thrones on a robotics, and other use cases that utilise massive
competitor’s network in seconds while it takes numbers of connected devices and require extremely
hours do so on yours, then you will have a hard time high speeds and low latency.”
maintaining customer loyalty.
Of course, operators will have to continue investing in
But the real payoff from 5G is likely to come from network, spectrum, and ever-increasing population-
innovators developing new services and apps to use coverage targets to realise this potential. “Policy-
all that extra capacity and capability. makers need to understand that unless operators can
achieve greater returns on capital, this future might
McKinsey and Co, in a paper, Hello, mobile operators? be delayed. And it’s equally important for consumers
This is your age of disruption calling, argue operators to understand what they are paying for on a monthly
have to get smart about recapturing the value created basis—nearly constant access to data.”
by their infrastructure.
The authors claim it is something operators haven’t
been able to do in the last decade and point out much
of the value created in that time has been realised
by tech disruptors such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook,
Google, and Netflix.
“Operators, therefore, will need to address the
fundamental strategic question of where and
how they want to compete going forward. Should
operators continue to see other telcos and cable
“Operators, therefore, will need to address the fundamental strategic question of
where and how they want to compete going forward. Should operators continue
to see other telcos and cable networks as their primary competitors—or are the
real competitors for value and customer ownership the FANGs (that is, Facebook,
Amazon, Netflix, and Google) and other OTT players?”
- McKinsey and Co.
14 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?Current state of play in Australia
In a whitepaper, Translating 5G use cases into
viable business cases, Nokia has provided detailed
analysis of six business cases, including calculations
that purport to show operator EBITDA, capex and
opex. These include 5G-to-the-home, 5G for in-
vehicle infotainment, 5G for hot spots, 5G for truck
platooning, 5G for connected healthcare, 5G for
Industry 4.0.
In its paper, the company notes, “There is little
doubt the extremely high performance of 5G has
the potential to help transform the ways businesses
Business models for 5G operate and how people live and work. It is also clear
early adopter communication service providers (CSPs)
This could be the biggest challenge facing 5G. that begin to plan today for the 5G future and make
Driverless cars feature a lot in discussions, as do smart decisions about how they will deploy and use the
cities and the Internet of Things. But ROI remains technology will gain an important lead in what are
opaque. likely to be intensely competitive and rapidly moving
markets.“
Operators currently have an unclear business model
on which to build their 5G network investment plans The authors caution that, at this early stage, with no
according to Gavin Patterson, BT Group CEO. commercial 5G deployments in play, many companies
lack the business information they need to recognise
The dominant business model in today’s mobile the trends, identify the opportunities and understand
networks is the simple sale of network services what 5G can do for their brand.
— voice and data. This will neither sustain the
investments required for 5G nor will it fully exploit the “It must be very clear how additional revenues can be
potential of the technology. secured with 5G, what investments will be required
and at what point a business case will break even.
For example, network operators will be able to charge Investments in 5G will be needed and CSPs cannot
a premium for providing dedicated network slices, afford to gamble.”
and equipment manufacturer Ericsson has provided a
detailed study of the possibilities.
Ericsson claims, “Operators can benefit from an
additional 36 per cent revenue from 5G-enabled
industry digitalisation market opportunities by 2026.”
It says, by that time, there will be an anticipated
$US619 billion revenue opportunity for telecom
operators addressing industry digitalisation with 5G
technology. The largest opportunity for operator-
addressable 5G-related revenues will be the
manufacturing and energy and utilities sectors.
Ericsson has identified numerous challenges due to
industry trends across 10 major industry sectors it
says could be addressed by digitalisation powered
by 5G.
15 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CURRENT STATE OF PLAYSMART CITIES
Urban planners and city administrators are looking to
5G to provide a platform on which to build applications
that enhance the daily lives of their citizens and bring
greater efficiency to the delivery of municipal services.
The smart city phenomenon involves an array of
technologies of which 5G is only one. However, it
clearly offers huge potential gains, especially in areas
such as autonomous driving, predictive maintenance
using analytics and data created by IoT devices, and
better resource utilisation from the deployment of
smart poles which can have multiple uses and provide
services for multiple suppliers.
Already there are significant projects underway around the world.
Smart cities 5G trials:
The Port of Hamburg is working with Deutsche Telekom and Nokia to test 5G applications. The use cases
1
to be tested on the 8000ha site include traffic lights management, virtual reality applications as well as
data processing from mobile sensors. The authority also wants to test network slicing as part of the trial.
2 Closer to home, Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast is central to a $60 million investment
the telco has made to upgrade infrastructure to support growing demand and major events in the
area. This is part of $5 billion which Telstra claims it is investing over the three years to June 30, 2019,
to upgrade and expand its mobile network, acquire spectrum and lay the foundations for 5G. Chief
Operations Officer, Robyn Denholm, says the carrier established the Gold Coast 5G Innovation Centre to
ensure Australia is among the first countries in the world to gain access to 5G.
The Technological Cities Project: Telefonica, in partnership with Ericsson and Nokia, has begun 5G
3
trials in the Spanish cities of Segovia and Talavera de la Reina. It will test services, business models,
and technologies over a three-year period including VR, AR and connected car apps, automation and
digitisation of industrial processes, fixed radio access in rural areas, health, and drone control.
Huawei and Canadian carrier, Telus, are running a 5G trial in Vancouver. The trial will use the global
4
3GPP 5G standards as well as 28GHz millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum with 800MHz of bandwidth,
according to a report by ZDNet. The trial will allow the companies to understand the real world impact
of 5G technologies in the home environment.
Smart cities planners should expect to operate in a world with some confusion and even obfuscation by
market participants in the medium term. National Narrowband Network Communications CEO, Rob Zagarella,
says, “There is confusion now and there will be a lot more in the future around the technologies, standards
16 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?and protocols for 5G, including their status and how use case for 5G, as opposed to fixed broadband and
they’re being adopted around the world.” other technologies. Consultation is going to be really
important.”
“We know the devil is in the details with a lot of these
things. But, then again, if the cities focus on having He says all levels of Government need to be involved
the right platforms in place and on having the right to create a regulatory framework allowing for
user experiences and services in place, it should smart city developments, but in a way that ensures
be irrelevant what type of access communication everybody benefits.
technology you use in the field to provide that
information.” “All of the indications are 5G will be an expensive
rollout. We don’t want to be focusing simply on
Zaggarella, however, points to another potential 5G if there are other technologies that can suit the
smart cities benefit — the ability to leverage other purpose, that won’t be as expensive to rollout and
infrastructure such as smart light poles to support won’t be as expensive for the users.”
communications in smart cities.
“We’re starting to see that. Once you’ve got the
different form factors available, then I think all of
these types of assets should be leveraged. We’ve
done a number of deployments with light poles,
we’ve done deployments on electricity poles, and on
small rooftops” he said.
“It’s a matter of looking at those assets strategically
from a network coverage or a planning perspective
to work out how to get the most optimised solutions.
With any of these technologies, regardless of the
underlying protocols, it’s high risk. Having good, solid
planning capability, especially around scaling out or
rolling out networks, is very important.”
Australian Smart Communities Association CEO,
Laurie Patton, says, “The real issue is what is the
“It’s a matter of looking at those assets strategically from a network
coverage or a planning perspective to work out how to get the most
optimised solutions. With any of these technologies, regardless of the
underlying protocols, it’s high risk. Having good, solid planning capability,
especially around scaling out or rolling out networks, is very important.”
- Rob Zagarella
CEO, National Narrowband Network Communications
17 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?What does it mean for Australian Industry
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY?
The Optus announcement that it will have 5G services in 2019, and Telstra’s decision to build a 5G Innovation
Centre on the Gold Coast have brought the accelerating shift to 5G in Australia into sharp relief.
The federal government has also increased its tempo. ‘The 5G Working Group’ met for the first time in
February. The initial membership includes The Department of Communications and the Arts (DOCA), the
Departments of Agriculture and Water Resources, Industry, Innovation and Science, Infrastructure and Regional
Development, and the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Industry members include Telstra, Optus, Vodafone,
Nokia, Huawei, Ericsson and Samsung, and associations such as the Australian Mobile Telecommunications
Association, the Communications Alliance and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia.
According to reports in Communications Day at the time, “two standout action points arising from the meeting
will be more highly targeted collaboration between select groups of industry representatives and government
departments outside the comms portfolio, plus the likely creation of smaller subgroups with specific expertise
geared to tackling particular issues.”
The report also suggested the feedback the The meeting of the working group followed the
government received was that it will need to be October 2017 release of a briefing document,
precise and disciplined in its approach to 5G. There 5G—Enabling the future economy, in which
were other concerns about a loss of focus on core the government said it would support the early
comms policy issues like spectrum and network deployment of 5G in Australia by:
deployment regulation.
• Making spectrum available in a timely manner.
• Actively engaging in international spectrum
harmonisation activities.
• Streamlining arrangements to allow mobile
carriers to deploy infrastructure more quickly.
• Reviewing existing telecommunications
regulatory arrangements to ensure they are fit-
for-purpose.
18 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY?What does it mean for Australian Industry
He did however say that some jurisdictions are
inclined to be more restrictive, giving the example of
buffer zones around schools and childcare facilities.
“States have different views as to the need for
a buffer zone and the size of it, but it’s hardly
problematic. To the extent that states enforce
these things is also variable. There have been many
instances where obviously we identify a situation
where if you were to observe the letter of a buffer
zone policy, you would find it incredibly difficult to
deploy anything.”
Axicom CEO, Sean O’Halloran, says it is not just
about deployment. Cost remains an issue, along with
Other industry initiatives the ability of carriers to get access to power and to
backhaul fibre.
The Australian Mobile Telecommunications
Association (AMTA) has set up the new 5G Group One issue that is unique to Australia is the impact of
to focus on policy, regulatory and technology issues 5G on the NBN.
related to the evolution of the next generation of
mobile technology, 5G. According to Will Heapy, Axicom’s Director of Planning
and Strategy, “With 5G, it will come down to pricing
Access and economics as to how deep they can penetrate
the market with ease but I think it’s inevitable there
will be some erosion of the NBN business through
With four carriers — Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and
5G.”
TPG — all looking to deploy networks there remain
concerns about how smoothly this will go, despite
How long will that take?
well understood regulations designed to address that
issue.
“There’s a business plan for them both to co-exist,
in my view, but 5G will allow different plays, such as
Deloitte, in a joint report with AMTA, identified
being able to provide a broadband offering without
differences between state and federal regulations and
having to connect fibre or use NBN.”
between different states covering the implementation
of network infrastructure in general and of the need
Other industry commentators put forward the view
for more harmonisation between jurisdictions.
that 5G will be the replacement technology for the
NBN and there is a general recognition that 5G will
According to AMTA’s CEO Chris Althaus, “All of
raise the competitive tension in the market.
the jurisdictions have put in place their own
telecommunications codes to varying degrees. We
simply want to get as much common ground as
possible.” It is not just about deployment.
Cost remains an issue, along with
“And to the extent that the low impact facilities and the ability of carriers to get access to
our deployment code is fundamentally designed to
power and to backhaul fibre.
provide a smooth path through state and federal
planning laws that has been its success.”
- Sean O’Halloran
CEO, Axicom
19 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY?Conclusion
CONCLUSION
Increasingly 5G looks like a sooner-rather-than-later proposition in Australia. Government, regulators, and
market participants have been working together for some time to thrash out issues such a spectrum allocation
and harmonisation, site access, and ongoing regulatory reform.
This collaboration is essential for success as 5G represents much more than a step change in network speed.
Characteristics
Yes, 5G is characterised by very significant
improvements to speed. However, that is just one
critical benefit. For instance, 1 millisecond latency
along with a huge increase in the number of
connected devices per unit area are essential for 5G
to provide the bedrock to the emerging Internet of
Things, which is one of the core use cases. To succeed
however, new technologies such as millimetre waves,
small cells, Massive MIMO and beamforming will
need to be deployed, each throwing out a number
of significant potential technical and regularity
challenges.
State of play
Australia is a technology taker not a standard setter. To
leverage the benefits from economies of scale, we not
only have to get our own spectrum and other regularity
settings in order, we need to align them broadly with
the global practices. There are lessons to be learned for
local players from the experience in markets like the US,
but there are also some unique challenges. The market
opportunity in Australia is of significantly less scale than
in the US or Europe for instance, while market structure
and capital funding options are also different.
20 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CONCLUSIONConclusion
Where next for Australian industry?
Spectrum requirements and regulatory issues around matters such as site access are already the subject for
ongoing discussions within the Federal Government’s 5G Work Group and across an ecosystem that involves
the lawmakers and regulators, industry associations, vendors and ultimately the consumers of 5G. Happily
those conversations are generally keeping pace with the reality of the market which looks set for initial 5G roll
outs as early as 2019. However, questions remain over ROI, especially for operators who will need to sink the
huge costs in building the core infrastructure. For the time being, the strongest arguments for the roll out of 5G
are being made by the equipment manufacturers, for whom the return is more immediate and more obvious.
5G is a more significant change than network generations in the past and the deployment of new technologies
and approaches such as small cells are already showing up the limitations of current regulatory approaches.
But perhaps the biggest issue for operators remains justifying the investment in the spectrum and
infrastructure.
To an extent this is a matter of competitive necessity. In the long term, however, applications in fields such as
the IoT, smart cities and autonomous driving are expected to prove lucrative for smart innovative businesses.
21 5G: HOW READY IS AUSTRALIA FOR THE NEXT GENERATION?
CONCLUSIONSupporting Your Wireless World.
Axicom is Australia’s leading independent owner and
operator of shared wireless infrastructure. Our core business
is owning, operating and leasing Australia-wide tower and
rooftop sites for wireless communication. We have sites
throughout Australia, including all major metropolitan cities,
regional and rural areas and remote locations.
We aim to provide the highest level of customer service
to our customers who include major wireless carriers such
as Optus, Vodafone, Telstra and NBN, Emergency services,
various State and Federal government agencies, and wireless
broadband data service providers.
We encourage wireless operators to co-locate on our existing
sites, helping to minimise the environmental impact of
network expansion while offering Australia-wide coverage,
faster deployment and lower total costs of ownership
compared with building replicated sites.
Axicom’s expert team can also provide you with the full suite
of site development services from site identification and
acquisition through to construction and installation.
Axicom looks forward to playing a pivotal role in
the rollout of 5G in Australia – give our team a
call today to discuss how we could help you
with your 5G strategy.
If you enjoyed this whitepaper, please share it.
1800 309 578
salesaus@axicom.com.au
www.axicom.com.au
PREPARING FOR 5G
22 WHAT IS NEEDED AND WHERE IS THE ROI?You can also read
