2019 UK Mobile Network Developments Roundup

In a presentation/report last year, iDate Digiworld labelled UK as a leader of 5G. So it was good to see a nice roundup from UK, courtesy of Peter Clarke & Jake Mcneill

Do you agree that 'The UK is Europe's 5G Network leader' ? pic.twitter.com/eR67BX1QgX

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) December 12, 2019

The video is embedded below and you can find a lot of information on Peter's website here.




Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog: BT's Converged Core to Launch in 2023
• Operator Watch Blog: O2 UK Getting 5G Ready...
• Operator Watch Blog: Three UK - Bringing A True 5G Experience
• Operator Watch Blog: UK MNO Mobile Spectrum Holdings
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• Operator Watch Blog: EE - 5G is going to change everything all over again
• Operator Watch Blog: Vodafone UK Launches 5G, Plans Disruption With Unlimited Data Plans

BT's Converged Core to Launch in 2023

At last year's Total Telecom Congress, Howard Watson, BT's CTIO laid out his vision (see Tweet) where Fixed, Mobile & Wi-Fi networks work together in a converged network.

Howard Watson, CTIO, BT lays out a vision of convergence where fixed, mobile and WiFi networks are being enhanced to deliver a next generation experience to the end users #TTCongress @totaltelecom pic.twitter.com/YTUa3Qtl3a

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) October 30, 2018

While those slides are not publicly available, a similar set of slides are available here on BT's homepage from Barclays CTO Conference earlier this year.

This year, Howard Watson was able to expand further on their vision for converged core of the future.

Howard Watson, Group CTIO, BT talked about how the fixed and mobile core networks handle traffic separately but they are expecting converged core by 2023. Their smart network will provide a seamless & consistent customer experience
@totaltelecom #TTCongress pic.twitter.com/B301Dx4Cdv

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) October 29, 2019

The slides in the tweet above gives a good idea of BT's vision of convergence where their fixed broadband customers and mobile customers from BT, EE, Plusnet & Wholesale along with Wi-Fi can get the same consistent experience regardless on where and how they access the network.

Total Telecom wrote a nice summary from the congress, part of which is reproduced below:

BT’s Hybrid Network, to be launched in 2023, will be comprised of the company’s mobile, fixed line and WIFI networks, offering customers ever present, gigabit connectivity
Consumers in the UK are increasingly intolerant of complexity, even as they begin to demand ubiquitous, gigabit capable connectivity, according to BT’s CTIO.

Speaking at the Total Telecom Congress in London on Tuesday, Howard Watson said that while consumers were essentially technologically agnostic as to how they received their connectivity, they were becoming increasingly demanding about the speed, quality and reliability of that connection.

At last year’s Congress, Watson announced that BT would be launching a fully converged, hybrid network that would offer seamless connectivity across the company’s mobile, fixed line and WIFI networks, with the aim to have all of its customers signed up to the network by 2023.

This year, Watson stressed the crucial role that WIFI and mobile connectivity would play in this hybrid next generation network.

“Whether you are connecting through fixed, mobile or WIFI, bound by intelligence and software driven common infrastructure, we truly believe we can transform the customer’s experience and deliver that seamless connectivity that they demand. We are in a unique position to do that because we are the only operator in the UK to build this type of network.”

“Making this happen is not east or trivial and we need to push the boundaries of the available technologies in terms of what they can do in terms of coverage, capability and interoperability. We need to rollout new technologies like 5G and WIFI 6 across the whole of the UK.”

BT was the first operator in the UK to launch 5G mobile network services through its mobile subsidiary, EE, which now has a 5G presence in 20 towns and cities cross the country. BT has subsequently launched 5G for its own brand customers and Watson said that EE and BT would try to provide 5G network coverage in an additional 25 towns and cities across the UK by the end of 2019.

Earlier I wrote about how the new 5G Core Architecture promoted Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) and also another feature called Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS) would play a key role in convergence. It is very likely that BT is moving in that direction for their converged core.

While the slides from Total Telecom Congress is not publicly available, they are present in BT's Technology’s Business Briefing here.


Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• The 3G4G Blog: Introduction to 5G ATSSS - Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting
• The 3G4G Blog: Exploring Network Convergence of Mobile, Broadband and Wi-Fi
• Tutorial: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• The 3G4G Blog: Updated 5G Terminology Presentation (Feb 2019)

EE: 5G is going to change everything all over again

EE was the first of the UK operators to launch its 5G network in six UK cities on May 30th 2019. Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, and Manchester, were the first cities to get 5G, and later this year will also see additional rollouts in Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Sheffield.

BT / EE is launching their 5G network in the UK tomorrow. You can learn more about the architecture details of this #5GEE network from the annual IET lecture by @960sutton here 👇. It's one of the very popular posts on 3G4G blog 💯 #5GTheAdvent #3G4G5Ghttps://t.co/EB3yp8NuXR pic.twitter.com/RWRXbaGStX

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) May 29, 2019

 
EE's device range will include the currently-delayed Samsung Fold, Oppo Reno 5G, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, LG V50 ThinkQ, and the Huawei CPE Pro and HTC 5G smart hub. It doesn't include any Huawei handsets in its current 5G line-up. EE CEO Marc Allera said EE had put the Huawei 5G devices "on pause" until it has more information and confidence that the handsets would be supported for the lifetime of the devices. But the vendor's equipment is still in EE core network; the UK government is currently deciding whether Huawei kit should be allowed in the nation's 5G networks.

EE has said it has Huawei equipment in the core of its 4G network and has said that in the future it will not be using the vendors kit in the core of its 5G network. But the first phase of its 5G network will run on top of the existing 4G network - using Huawei equipment as part of the radio access network. According to Allera: 

"We have worked for decades with the government and our security services collaborating on our networks both fixed and mobile. We agree and sign off our architecture and how we design and build those networks with their support. At the moment we have no instructions to change our plans but it's important to say that we have also have a multi-vendor policy and architecture. Our core and our radio access network, will be made up of a number of providers Huawei will be part of that but not the only part."

While some people may wonder why they need 5G, Allera said people said the same thing about 4G "and look how much has changed in the way people live their lives". He said that 4G has sparked a huge shift and said "5G is going to change everything all over again."



EE said its 5G strategy has three phases; 2019 to 2022 sees 5G rollout and a ‘non-standalone’ deployment focused on using the combined power of 4G and 5G to give customers the fastest, most reliable mobile broadband experience they’ve ever had and 1,500 5G sites by the end of this year.

Phase 2, from 2022, will introduce the full next generation  5G core network, enhanced device chipset capabilities, and increased availability of 5G-ready spectrum. Higher bandwidth and lower latency featuring network slicing and multi-gigabit-per-second speeds, coupled with expansive and growing 5G coverage, an ultra-reliable and more responsive network, enabling truly immersive mobile augmented reality, real-time health monitoring, mobile cloud gaming and enabling services such as real-time traffic management. Phase 2 is also a vital step on the way to the convergence of network technologies, bringing together fixed, mobile and WiFi into one seamless customer experience.

Phase 3, from 2023, will introduce Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Network Slicing and multi-gigabit-per-second speeds. This phase of 5G will enable critical applications like real-time traffic management of fleets of autonomous vehicles, massive sensor networks with millions of devices measuring air quality across the entire country, and the ‘tactile internet’, where a sense of touch can be added to remote real-time interactions.

EE CEO Marc Allera said that he expects users to hit speeds of 150Mbps on average, and is confident that some customers will even break the fabled 1Gbps milestone on 5G, as some early users of Verizon’s 5G network have managed in parts of the US. 

JComms blog did speed tests on the EE network in both London and Birmingham (two of the launch cities) with the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G  he wasn't able to get results approaching or exceeding 1 gigabit. However, he did get – between 300 and 600Mbps – which are more than required for most needs. Speeds in excess of 300Mbps in city centres, in particular places like Canary Wharf, are particularly impressive.

EE came out of Ofcom’s first 5G spectrum auction with 40Mhz of 3.4GHz spectrum, specifically the 3540MHz – 3580MHz part of the band. They paid £302,592,000 for that.

They won more of the 3.4GHz band – which is ideal for 5G – than Three (which won just 20MHz), but the same amount as O2 and less than Vodafone, which came away with 50Mhz. However, EE also has 255MHz of immediately useable spectrum in other bands less suited to 5G, which means it has more spectrum overall than any other UK network.

It’s also worth noting that there are set to be future 5G auctions for spectrum in the 3.6GHz - 3.8GHz bands and the 700MHz band, as well likely as the 26GHz and 8GHz bands, and potentially others, which Ofcom is set to discuss at WRC-19, so there’s time for EE to collect more spectrum, and it already has more overall than any rival – albeit less that’s ideally suited for 5G than some.

EE will also be transforming Glastonbury 2019 into the UK’s first 5G-connected festival.

The 5G network will mean festival-goers stay connected with superfast phone charging and power bar swapping at the EE Recharge Tent, as well as helping to develop the official Glastonbury 2019 app.

To keep music fans connected throughout the weekend, EE will be installing five temporary masts across the 900-acre Somerset site broadcasting 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G for the first time. Those lucky enough to be at the festival will be able to share their unforgettable moments with friends and family back home via our 5G-powered WiFi – meaning they won’t need a 5G-compatible phone to experience our brand-new 5G network technology.

In 2017, an incredible 54 terabytes of mobile data was used over the festival weekend by Glastonbury-goers sharing photos and videos of their favourite festival moments, streaming content and keeping up to date with events away from the festival.

But EE think Glastonbury 2019 will dwarf that, with up to 40% more data being used over the festival weekend. That’s a staggering 70 terabytes of data – enough to download Stormzy’s hit song ‘Shut Up’ 19 million times or post 784 million times on Instagram.

Related Posts:

• UK MNO Mobile Spectrum Holdings
• Small Cells in BT Phone Boxes
• Update on UK's Emergency Services Network (ESN) from #BAPCO2019
• Meshing for BYOC (Bring Your Own Coverage)
• Prof. Andy Sutton: 5G Radio Access Network Architecture Evolution - Jan 2019
• #CWHeritage Talk: The history of synchronisation in digital cellular networks
• Drones, More Drones & Droneway

UK MNO Mobile Spectrum Holdings

Picture Source: Keith Dyer

In a recent consultation document on 'Award of the 700 MHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz spectrum bands' that the UK regulator Ofcom has published (link), there is a nice summary picture (pg. 62 or pg. no. 60) of all the current spectrum holding by the big 4 MNOs.

Looking at this, one can conclude that all the UK operators have spectrum to launch basic 5G services whenever they are ready.

5G plans by UK Operators - Nov 2018

Vodafone: 1000 live 5G sites by 2020

• Back in June, Vodafone announced 7 cities will be part of 5G trials starting in July.
• In October, Vodafone announced that they have became the first company in the UK to carry full 5G over a commercial network. Live mobile data traffic was being streamed to and from the Internet exclusively over 5G from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester, connected to Vodafone’s nationwide converged fibre network.
• Vodafone further said as a part of the same announcement that their network engineers were already achieving high-speed Internet connectivity and low latency from the Salford site using Active Antenna (Massive MIMO) technology. This effectively provides multiple-data ‘channels’ from a single antenna, coupled with the 3.4GHz 5G spectrum. Vodafone secured the largest block of this 5G spectrum at this year’s auction.
• In September, Vodafone made UK’s first holographic call using 5G.
• Vodafone is planning commercial network and 1,000 5G sites by 2020

The video of the first live holographic call is below:

EE/BT: 1,500 sites, 16 cities with 5G in 2019

• EE, part of BT Group, has nine live 5G trial sites across East London.
• Some of the learning as part of this announcement included the fact that rooftop sites often need significant strengthening to carry the new 50 kg 5G antennas – and some sites house three of these (3 sectors)
• EE launching 5G within 16 UK cities in 2019, roughly 1,500 sites
• EE is upgrading transmission to 10Gbps links at each 5G site
• 5G Smartphones to be introduced alongside 5G Home router for 5G broadband
• EE also building next generation 5G core network, with virtualised network functions on a cloud native infrastructure
• BT Sport showcased first live trial of remote production broadcast live over EE’s 5G network

‘3’ UK Committed to Invest Over £2bn into 5G

• According to Three press release: It’s committed spend to date covers the acquisition of the UK’s leading 5G spectrum position, new 5G radio equipment and cell site upgrades, high-capacity dark fibre network, the world’s first end-to-end cloud-based core network, and new digital systems that will enhance user experience
• The first commercial quantities of 5G smartphone and home broadband devices are expected to be available by H2 2019. 
• According to CCS Insight, Three now owns about 24 percent of all spectrum suitable for 4G and 5G services. This, it says, places it ahead of BT (21 percent), Vodafone (19 percent) and O2 (15 percent). The remaining 20 percent, which consists of 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz airwaves, is earmarked for sale by Ofcom in late 2019.
• Customers of Three already use 7.6GB of data per month, more than three times the industry average. Based on projections from Ofcom, Dave Dyson, CEO, sees a scenario in which this usage surges to 90GB per month in 2025. Note that this prediction has increased from 56 GB per month in 2025 as we earlier reported.

O2: Massive MIMO Pilot to prepare for 5G

• O2 has the least amount of announcements and information on 5G. In a recent press release, it announced that it has launched a pilot to boost London network ahead of 5G.
• The pilot is effectively saying that O2 is working with Nokia on two Massive MIMO trials in Kings Cross and Marble Arch (in London), aimed at enhancing connectivity for O2 customers and paving the way for the future deployment of 5G across the capital.
• The pilot is in the newly acquired 2.3 GHz spectrum.
• The pilot will lay the foundation for the next-generation of mobile connectivity– 5G.
• On the positive side, Ofcom confirmed that O2 had delivered against its commitment to provide 98% indoor 4G coverage and 90% geographical landmass mass coverage across the UK. 

EE, O2, Three & Vodafone 4G: Which is best?

Which network is best value?

4G doesn't quite live up to the 60Mbps advertised speeds as we topped out at 40Mbps. Around congested urban areas like London you can expect speeds to average between 10 - 20Mbps.

Real-world results showed there was little to separate EE, O2 and Vodafone in terms of raw download speeds. Three was slightly slower but you can still expect 10Mbps+ in most areas.

The networks take a different approach to try and attract customers. EE focuses strengths like widespread coverage and consistent high-speeds. 

Three might not be the fastest but it is the cheapest and the only network which provides true all-you-can-eat data, so you don't need to worry about going over data limits. It is also the only network to allow you to use your allowance in the US, so if you're a frequent traveller this will prove invaluable.

O2 and Vodafone offer similar high-speeds and enticing add-ons. O2 offers subscriptions to Evernote and The Sun+, whereas Vodafone throws in access to Sky Sports Mobile or Spotify Premium.

Ultimately, it's going to depend on the reception. For many people in the UK, the only way to currently get 4G will be to sign up to EE as it offers coverage in areas other networks haven't reached.

Make sure you check every operator's coverage checker before signing up to a plan. Also take time to look at the benefits offered:

Recommendations:

EE - This is the network if you need the widest possible 4G coverage and consistent high-speeds and you're not too interested in add-ons.

O2 - Only if you live in or around one of the 13 big cities and you want access to discounts through the Priority Hub and  subscriptions to Evernote and The Sun+

Vodafone - Covers a third of the UK. This one is for sports or music fans as you get the choice between subscriptions Sky Sports Mobile and Spotify Premium. 

Three - Not the fastest, but the network of choice for those who don't want to be constrained by a data limit. Also allow you to use your allowance in the US.

Read more: http://www.itpro.co.uk/mobile/22048/ee-o2-three-vodafone-4g-which-is-best#ixzz31Ugt0IU2

Mobile operators in UK

EE

It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK, with around 28 million customers.
Virgin Mobile UK along with ASDA Mobile operates on the EE network under a MVNO agreement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_(telecommunications_company)

Voda phone

The world's second-largest mobile phone company. As of March 2012, Vodafone UK has 19.2 million subscribers and is the third largest mobile telecommunications network nationally after EE and O2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone_UK

02

It is the second-largest mobile telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom (after EE).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O2_(United_Kingdom)

Three
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchison_3G#United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_mobile_virtual_network_operators

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ee-crowned-uks-best-mobile-operator--vodafone-in-last-place-9189018.html
Britain operates on a GSM network.

http://ukmobilecoverage.co.uk/

Britain's largest mobile operator, EE, said on Monday it posted its best quarterly take-up of its 4G network in the first three months of 2014 due to growing demand for fast mobile Internet and forecast customer numbers more than doubling in 2014.

EE, a joint venture between Orange and Deutsche Telekom, said it added another 889,000 customers in the three months to March 31, taking its customer base to 2.9 million with nearly 5,100 corporate clients.

EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, said it was on target to exceed 6 million 4G customers by the end of 2014.

Despite the growth, the company said turnover during the quarter dropped 3.6 percent from a year ago to 1.6 billion pounds ($2.7 billion).

Operating revenue was down 1.7 percent on a year ago to 1.5 billion pounds which included the impact of regulatory cuts.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/28/ee-results-idUKL6N0NK1RX20140428