According to recent reports, London’s 5G capabilities significantly lag behind other major UK cities, which can potentially impact businesses and cause them to fall behind their competitors, especially ones that rely on fast and reliable internet connectivity for their day-to-day operations to run smoothly.
Here is a more detailed look at some of the challenges that London-based businesses face with below-part 5G network performance.
Why is London’s 5G network performance worse than other major UK cities?
London’s 5G network performance is far worse than many other major UK and European cities due to several factors, such as restrictions on the use of Huawei technology, slow 5G rollout, challenges with building new 5G masts, inadequate investment, and poor infrastructure.
The rollout of 5G in London was affected by the UK government’s decision to ban the use of Huawei technology in 2020. Network operators who used the technology were forced to replace it with other technology.
London also has a significantly higher population density than most other major UK cities, and the city’s urban environment can further complicate the transmission of the 5G wireless signal and lead to congestion. Tall buildings can reflect or block 5G signals, which causes reliability issues.
Due to the lack of investment, London hasn’t been able to spend sufficient money upgrading its telecoms infrastructure to keep up with demand, leading to slow speeds and poor coverage.
New masts are crucial for the continued rollout of 5G, but London residents who oppose them being built and red tape surrounding planning regulations to construct new masts in London prolong the process.
Network responsiveness in London, which affects latency and causes disconnection and buffering issues, negatively impacts data-intensive applications, such as online gaming, especially on websites where people play online slots or cutting-edge live dealer games.
It also affects movie and television show streaming on sites like Netflix, video conferencing, the live streaming of sporting events, live news, and other media.
If London fails to improve its 5F network performance and services, the gap could widen even further between other UK and European cities, and businesses that rely on this technology could fall behind their rivals even further.
What are the main benefits of 5G for London businesses?
5G brings with it many benefits for small and large businesses. For example, faster internet and data transmission speeds allow for quicker processing of large datasets, smooth video conferencing/streaming, and faster file sharing.
A reliable 5G network enhances productivity and efficiency, enabling businesses to streamline their operations and automate tasks. 5G enables a larger number of internet-connected devices to connect to the internet in a smaller space, and the network’s low latency and high capacity also open up many other new possibilities.
Businesses can offer new and innovative services with reliable 5G connectivity, such as personalised customer support, remote maintenance, remote collaboration, training, entertainment, and interactive experiences.
Final thoughts
Although 5G rollout has been slow in London compared to many other UK and European cities, and despite the 5G network performance being much worse here, average speeds are only said to be around 7% worse than cities with excellent 5G network performance.
To ensure the gap doesn’t widen, London officials must continue to secure investment in the network’s infrastructure. There is progress, but at a much slower rate than most people would expect. London is recognised as a global capital powerhouse in the technology sector and many other industries, so it must do more to improve its 5G services.
Over the coming years, experts predict that public resistance to 5G and the misconceptions about harmful radio transmissions will gradually shift, and planning red tap that hampers 5G rollout will improve to ensure London citizens and businesses can gain full access to the 5G network and benefit from what the technology is truly capable of.
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