As with all technology, mobile phone networks continue to be upgraded as innovation leads to new and improved ways to look at existing infrastructures. 3G was seen as a relatively modest jump for mobile carriers, and 4G expanded the capabilities significantly. 5G is now emerging and is expected to be so much more than just another carrier solution. The Liverpool 5G Consortium out of the UK is showing how robust the network can be, and has been given a grant of £4.3 million ($5.62 million) to further its efforts.
Liverpool 5G describes itself as a “unique and innovative consortium of public sector health and social care suppliers, the NHS, university researchers, third sector organisations, agile local SMEs and a leading UK 5G technology vendor, who came together to deliver the DCMS-funded Liverpool 5G Testbed.” It was given the funding through a larger project that is designed to support health and social care technologies, a competition set up by the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports (DCMS). The DCMS has launched its 5G Testbed and Trials Programme, which hopes to encourage 5G innovation on a number of levels that have never before been possible.
The Create: Connecting Health and Social Care initiative launched by Liverpool 5G explores the use of 5G technology, which has download speeds of up to ten gigabits per second, to develop a private and independent network that will be used in health and social care applications in certain areas of Liverpool. It is being designed to operate as a test of the network’s capabilities and is expected to provide free and accessible connectivity to a number of health, social care and education services. If the project goes as planned, it could eventually be rolled out on a much larger scale.
The consortium is being led by the University of Liverpool. Joe Spencer, a professor in the school’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, explains, “This is a great opportunity to build on our previous testbed and develop the British technology that can change people’s lives by enabling affordable connectivity and reducing digital poverty.”