Millions in investment needed for 5G network Call for private partnership

THE roll-out of the next generation 5G mobile communication network in the West Midlands will not go ahead without at least £75 million of private investment, it has been claimed.

The director of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s public service reform, Henry Kippin, said the new technology would provide benefits to business, society and public services.

But he stressed the importance of private investment to the scheme’s success, adding “this doesn’t work if we can not leverage £75 million-plus in private investment”.

The government announced the West Midlands would receive £25 million to create the UK’s first ever widescale 5G testbed on the condition it is was matched by the Combined Authority.

The authority is expected to pay £5 million while being responsible for helping to raise the remaining £20 million.

However, speaking to the WMCA’s Wellbeing Board, Mr Kippin said it may take far more than that in private investment to make a success of the scheme.

He said: “The way in which this is being constructed is a mix of an incredibly complicated cocktail of public money and private money.

“You can imagine the mixture of infrastructure investors, global network operators like Vodafone, the government, us as a region, our LEPs.

“It all comes together in a special purpose organisation which is created and co-owned by the Combined Authority and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

“So this doesn’t work if we cannot leverage £75 million-plus in private investment into the region to make this work.”

Mr Kippin said 5G was not simply an upgrade of 4G, but a technology that could revolutionise industries across the West Midlands over the next few years.

And he believes that if the roll-out of the technology is done right, it could see the region advance 15 years in the space of just ten.

“What 5G represents is effectively gigabit speed mobile connectivity,” he said. “It’s a thick network, it’s data rich, and it has zero latency, which is basically the lag you experience when online. So you can imagine the spin-off benefits of that in terms of, let’s say, manufacturing.

“You do a task with 4G technology and you could cut your hand off, because of the lag.

“You do it with 5G and you have no such issues. So there’s a real business benefit there in terms of real time connectivity.

“And when you start to think about the applications in healthcare, and remote care, when you think about the applications for the fire service, for West Midlands Police, there are multiple applications there.

“What that means practically is two things. First, we’ll be beginning the deployment of 5G infrastructure.

“And the difference between 5G and all the other Gs is we’re not talking about massive masts at the top of the hill.

“We’re talking about cells in line of sight, small cells at the top of lamposts, street furniture, things like that.

“There’s a lot of excitement about the potential.”

He added: “What would have taken 15 years, if we do this right, will take five instead.

“So for the kid in the region with a computer who wants to break into the gaming economy, again, you don’t have to stress the opportunity this gives.”