IT’S Sunday 19 May. I have just started to write when suddenly I am surrounded by the grandchildren, Mason, 12, (on his iPad) and Ella, 16, going on 25 (will not stop talking). Anyway, we hear that a Chinese company may be used to build 5G infrastructure in the UK, despite the government being warned of the potential for delicate secret information being acquired. Meanwhile, what was 007 Licensed to Chill in Northampton now operates as 700 Refrigeration & Air Conditioning due to potential copyright infringements. Now that’s the power of private enterprise!
Vodafone is the first to announce that it will launch 5G in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London on 3 July, for both business and consumers. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the first network to launch 5G as EE have said their launch is ‘imminent’. Vodafone are likely to be ahead in that they will be offering 5G roaming to customers in Italy, Germany and Spain this summer. They have also said that 5G services will be priced the same as current services so users will not have to pay any extra. Having said that new 5G handsets are likely to be the most expensive around but are available now through networks from manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei. There are another 12 cities confirmed for this year from Vodafone but Northampton is not one of them.
O2’s 5G network is expected to be switched on later this year, but you don’t need to wait for 5G to get massively enhanced mobile services in some areas, as (partially in preparation for 5G) the network has improved its performance by around 50 per cent in a number of locations. We have not been provided specifics other than included are a number of stadiums, hotels and large shopping centres of which INTU Milton Keynes is one. As well as these upgrades providing better performance they also help lay the groundwork for o2’s 5G network.
I was interrupted yesterday (Sunday) when I started to write this informative technology article.
It is now Monday and I have been interrupted again. This time by Julie or Judith (Business Times) not sure which, so time’s up, got to go! Until next month, enjoy yourselves.