EE has announced that it is moving away from the “technical” terminology of 5GSA (5G Standalone) and will use the term 5G+, which it says will be clearer for customers. This is an interesting idea, particularly as the term 5G+ is used in the US to describe a different technology. There, AT&T use this to define their mmWave-based 5G network, which is a technology that Vodafone have trialled in the UK, and will now presumably have to come up with a different shorthand way to describe mmWave so as not to confuse consumers..
This news comes as the company sets out an ambition to deliver 5GSA (or 5G+) to 99% of the UK by 2030, four years ahead of competitors (VodafoneThree recently announced they had a fully funded build plan to reach 99% 5GSA coverage by 2034). In order to meet this target, BT/EE says that it will need Government support and suggests some steps that might push the boundaries of achievability.
“A valuable next step would be for Government to launch a Mobile Market Review. This could examine planning reforms to accelerate the rollout of new network equipment, to increase the availability of spectrum (the radio waves that enable mobile coverage), and consider removing the Annual Licence Fees currently paid by operators to use spectrum. “
Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer, BT Group
The company are keen to point out some technical innovations that they have achieved recently, including:
- EE have completed the first European network deployment of massive MIMO radios from Ericsson (AIR 3284), which are triple-band and have four-times higher uplink capacity. Two of these have been deployed in Leeds
- Over 1,500 outdoor small cell sites have been deployed, which help boost coverage in dense areas such as towns and cities
- They are the first network in the world to launch Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC) in the mobile network (we covered the ARC news here).
Whilst any plans to boost 5G coverage should be welcomed with open arms, we do wonder how much weight should be put towards ambitions of 2030 vs fully funded build plans of 2034.
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Nice to see that the network operators have realised the advantages of upgrading the equipment and providing better services.
Let’s hope the Chancellor doesn’t try to increase any taxation on this sort of thing.
Never trust the evil chancellor
At least they didn’t call it 6G.
Because it isn’t 6g, although I’m unsure as to exactly what that is yet, I’m not sure that 6g is fully defined right now.
Good news but too slow IMHO. We need that commitment delivered ASAP and NOT just bt 2030. EE need to lead the way in deed not just by word
My first thoughts are is that they doing this to mislead customers, perhaps not wanting people to talk about non SA as some kind of fake 5G. Who on earth thinks 5G+ is clearer than the correct technical term of SA?
Kind of like how we get people and entities calling the internet ‘wifi’.