Mr. Marcus Matthews:

The 4G and 5G technology is a new category of mobile communications technology so it is coming out of the cellular family of specifications. When we hear about 5G, it is technically a 5G new radio line of code. It is a software upgrade to existing 4G technology. The straight up 5G in terms of hardware will come out later in the year. It is interesting that in the US, Horizon did some trials in terms of rural broadband with several mobile network operators. They found that in the rural regions the performance increase over 4G was not substantial.

If we go back to the original concept of 5G in terms of its development, it was to serve high density environments such as airport terminals and subway stations. It started out as a need to develop a new standard because everyone now has a mobile phone and we have scenarios where tens of thousands of people are in very close proximity to each other. We need technology that can deliver a large volume of throughput to all of these people in close proximity to each other. The scope grew as the technology was developed and it co-opted the rural broadband access issue. It has since become associated more with the idea of providing rural broadband access than, say, the original impetus for its development.

In terms of its development, 5G is not a technology designed for the type of rural broadband and rural connectivity gap we face. From its initial concept to the development stages through to the finished product, the technology used by regional ISPs has always been about connecting multiple premises from a single site at the highest speed possible.