دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی پیامدهای هزینه ای، پوششی و جمع آوری از حافظه در زیرساخت نسل پنجم - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Despite 5G still being embryonic in its development, there is already a quest for evidence to support decision-making in government and industry. Although there is still considerable technological, economic and behavioural uncertainty, exploration of how the potential rollout may take place both spatially and temporally is required for effective policy formulation. Consequently, the cost, coverage and rollout implications of 5G networks across Britain are explored by extrapolating 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced characteristics for the period 2020–2030. We focus on ubiquitous ultrafast broadband of 50 Mbps and test the impact of annual capital intensity, infrastructure sharing and reducing the end-user speed in rural areas to either 10 or 30 Mbps. For the business-as-usual scenario we find that 90% of the population is covered with 5G by 2027, but coverage is unlikely to reach the final 10% due to exponentially increasing costs. Moreover, varying annual capital intensity or deploying a shared small cell network can greatly influence the time taken to reach the 90% threshold, with these changes mostly benefiting rural areas. Importantly, simply by integrating new and existing spectrum, a network capable of achieving 10 Mbps per rural user is possible, which is comparable to the UK's current fixed broadband Universal Service Obligation. We contribute to the literature by quantifying the effectiveness of the spatial and temporal rollout of 5G under different policy options.

Conclusion

This article analysed the cost, coverage and rollout implications of 5G ultrafast mobile broadband in Britain. It did this by assessing the rollout implications of different capital intensities, infrastructure sharing and end-user speed. The policy options available to decision makers to expedite the rollout of 5G were then discussed. In the baseline scenario using existing capital intensity levels, coverage would reach 90% of the population by 2027 with 50 Mbps, although the final 10% would see exponentially increasing costs making this proportion unlikely to be served by the market. Importantly, spectrum plays a major role in lowering the costs of a network rollout capable of providing 10 Mbps per user in rural areas. However, brownfield spectrum integration cannot provide headline end-user speeds equal or higher than 30 Mbps. These results suggest that policy makers need to be cautious regarding large headline speeds in rural areas. If these are desired politically, then financial support may be required. However, it may be more appropriate to focus on achieving near-ubiquitous coverage of a moderate level using spectrum resources to support the vertical industries that 5G will purportedly enable. Unless we see a new ‘killer-app’ for this generation, there is a high probability that market-based 5G ultrafast broadband infrastructure will mainly be the prerogative of urban and suburban areas. At least in the foreseeable future within Britain. The timely rollout of 5G networks will become increasingly important to achieve the productivity benefits desired by industrial policy, as well as dealing with digital divide issues. The contribution of this research is the quantification of the cost, coverage and rollout implications of 5G based on different policy options. Indeed, as the rollout of telecommunications infrastructure is inherently spatial and temporal, this is a necessary exploit and one that is becoming increasingly valuable considering the geographical disparities in provision that have arisen in the rollout of previous generations.