Last week, the Liberty team made their way to The Montcalm Marble Arch, to attend Telecoms.com LIVE, a discussion of today’s hot-topics in the industry – the hottest of them all being 5G (somewhat unsurprisingly).
After arriving at a breezy 08.00am, coffee ensued.
The event kicked off with an opener by Telecoms.com Editorial Director, Scott Bicheno, before Deputy Editor, Jamie Davies and CityFibre’s Greg Mesch dived into the assets of being an infrastructure giant and the potential of 5G to replace broadband and fibre in the home.
Two panels addressing the implications of 5G on business, rural connectivity, and the value of government involvement in full-fibre and 5G roll-out demonstrated an overwhelming desire for certainty in the field.
Stand-out speaker, Rosalind Singleton, Chair of UK 5G after spending six years at UK Broadband, addressed the lack of diversity in the telco space, reflecting on the otherwise all-male guestlist. She also managed to bring a human touch to a somewhat technical agenda, positing the merits of faster, more stable and more reliable networks in critical environments. She looked at the issue of delivering connectivity to hospitals and homes of the elderly – going beyond streaming to talk about a plethora of interesting use cases.
Overall the event created a buzz of excitement for the future of the industry, without losing grasp of a realistic outlook. It would seem we are not to expect too much too soon from the likes of 5G and the nation-wide roll-out of full-fibre. A main takeaway, however, is that the B2B value of the new network infrastructure would seem to be far outstripping that which can be garnered in B2C environments. Manufacturers in particular, can expect to see changes to their internal networks as new tech is used to make the Internet of Things more efficient.
