Mayor: Coup for region could be incentive Channel 4 needs to

BIRMINGHAM, Coventry and Wolverhampton will be the first cities in the country to pilot supersmart 5G mobile technology which will transform industry, public transport and health services.

Mayor Andy Street said the coup for the region could be a ‘real advantage’ in Birmingham’s bid to become the home of a new Channel 4 studio.

The technology is expected to be as much as one hundred times faster than its predecessor 4G, with huge implications for the West Midlands.

It could see connected ambulances deployed across the region, providing paramedic crews with access to specialist advice using video conferencing and live streaming of patient data to the hospital en route.

It will also allow crowds of people to connect without problems, be ultra reliable, more secure and not prone to dropouts.

This week the Government announced Birmingham and the West Midlands had been selected to trial the new technology – backed by £150 million investment to set up the new network.

As well as offering superfast broadband, it will also aid the development of new technology such as driverless cars and mobile virtual reality applications.

And, with Channel 4 executives set to visit Birmingham this week ahead of their final decision on the location of a new base, mayor Andy Street said the creative industries could be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

“If you are in the creative industries, you could be producing a little film maybe, and you’ll want to send it to the commissioner,” said Mr Street.

“And the whole question about the reliability of the digital network is absolutely critical.

“If we are the area of the country with the best digital network, it’s clearly got to be a real advantage for those creative industries.

“If you think about how both the City of Culture and Commonwealth Games will actually be consumed, visually, it’ll probably be in this way. Tokyo are already talking about their Olympics being done in this way.

“So there are some really practical things within the creative industries that will be helped by this.”

Mr Street added: “I think we must look back on the question of why is this important for the West Midlands in five years time,” he said.

“And I’m prepared to hedge a bet that 5G will almost become the accepted norm of technology.

“But if I just try to explain the difference.

“Let’s take the whole question of autonomous vehicles as a really good example.

“You cannot have dropouts in that network from an unreliable 4G signal. You will know from driving around the West Midlands that that is a bit of a problem, and in an autonomous vehicle, which relies on connectivity, that wouldn’t be safe.

“This is about a technology that gives utter reliability, that’s why it’s a game changer, and that’s why it’s very important that we won the bid.”

Government digital minister Margot James joined Mr Street at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the announcement, highlighting the potential for 5G to transform medical services.

It will mean greater use of outpatient consultations by video – saving the need for costly and time consuming visits to hospitals.

It could also give health visitors secure access to full patient records from a patient’s home and connected ambulances, giving paramedics access to live specialist advice, while on emergency calls.

Live streaming of CCTV footage from buses could also enable police officers to take immediate action against anti-social behaviour.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital chief executive David Rosser said that current mobile technology was unreliable especially in people’s homes, so it was not yet practical to share elec-

This is about a technology that gives utter reliability, that’s why it’s a game changer Mayor Andy Street, above