Commercial 5G network slated for 2019 launch

Superfast mobile broadband technology could be just around the corner for the UK’s phone-owners as plans accelerate to launch the next-generation 5G network in 2019 - according to BT’s CEO.

Gavin Patterson, the CEO of the BT Group, said that their mobile-operating group EE is planning to launch a “commercial product” in the next 18 months.

Previously, most were expecting the timeline on a 5G launch to be a little further off. Even the network regulator Ofcom said it was not expecting wide-scale deployment of 5G services to start until “mid to late 2020”, largely because some of the radio bandwidth necessary for it will not be released or covered until that year.

Patterson said: “In mobile, we will continue to build 4G to 95 per cent geographic coverage by 2020 and intend to lead the market to 5G, looking to have a commercial product launched within the next 18 months.

“We’ve already secured 3.4 gigahertz spectrum for 5G, and plan to participate in the 700 megahertz auction.”

Though Patterson’s comments still mean that the network would not be launched until the very tail end of 2019 - with the work required to get it ready for use likely to mean it’s a way through 2020 before it’s actually ready - it indicates that EE is already some way ahead of its competitors.

Launching 5G early is possible but may have some drawbacks - largely due to the lack of compatible hardware, both for customers (who lack mobile phones with 5G capabilities) and networks (who lack the necessary infrastructure).

It is also more than likely that new, 5G-compatible phones will be power-hungry battery drainers, like the early iterations of 3G and 4G handsets were.

As with 4G’s initial roll-out, it is also unlikely that 5G will be that much faster on its initial introduction, especially since LTE-Advanced networks are easily already hitting Gigabit speeds.