Telecommunication

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Who will build Australia’s 5G mobile phone network?
Not Chinese telecommunications infrastructure company Huawei, which was recently excluded from involvement via a statement from then acting Home Affairs Minister Scott Morrison – now prime minister – and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield.
Australia’s 5G is likely to be up and running sometime in the next few years, with some trials already underway.
Nevertheless, widespread rollout needs equipment to be purchased, tested and deployed. It needs sites to be obtained for base stations. It needs software upgrades to billing and management systems. So it’s likely to be a little way off yet.
The nuts and bolts of a network
5G will have the same high level architecture as previous cellular networks, but the intricate details are very different.
In very simple terms, a cellular mobile network consists of three components: mobile devices, a radio access network and a core network.
The mobile device might be a smart phone, tablet, or a computer with a USB dongle, but could also be a low-cost sensor with a simple transmitter.
The radio access network consists mainly of base stations (mobile phone towers), and is connected to the core network. The base station uses radio waves to relay communications between the mobile device and the core network. The area covered by a base station is called a cell.
The core network’s main role is to set up communication with other devices and other networks, user management and record information for billing.
Each generation of cellular networking has introduced radical changes to what the network does and how it does it.
Previous generations have seen communications moving from analogue to digital, have introduced data services, have moved to a simplified architecture, have increased the data speed available to end users and increased bandwidth efficiency.
How is 5G different?
Many of the changes introduced by 5G will be in the base stations and core network. These are less apparent to end users, but very important for the network operators.
5G will make use of much higher frequencies for radio communications than has been used in cellular networks in the past.
Since higher frequencies attenuate (weaken) with distance more rapidly than lower frequencies, 5G will use much smaller cell sizes than previous generations. In urban areas cell sizes might only be a few hundred metres in diameter.
Small cell sizes make available previously unused radio frequencies – but introduce additional complexity in managing interference and handover of mobile stations from one base station to another.
5G will also support very large numbers of devices per cell. One of the working parties developing 5G standards specifies a minimum of one million devices per square kilometre.
Being able to support such large numbers of devices is important for the “Internet of Things” – where household devices and machinery are also connected to the internet.
5G will make use of sophisticated signal processing techniques such as Multi Input, Multi Output (MIMO) antennae – which will improve the efficient use of bandwidth.
Because the frequency is higher, the wavelength is smaller (around one millimetre). Optimal antenna size is related to the wavelength. Small wavelengths mean more antennae can be used per mobile node than has been possible in the past which is the basis of MIMO.
Another significant change for 5G will be to centralise much of the processing that in the past was carried out at the base stations. Dealing with the high density of devices and doing sophisticated processing requires a great deal of computing power. Rather than having each base station doing it, the raw data will be transmitted to a central location and be processed there.
China’s Huawei has taken a leading role in the development of 5G. It has made substantial contributions to the standards development process and has been among the first to carry out substantial trials.
China is expected to be the largest global market for 5G with some predictions of more than 400 million connections by 2025.
Will my phone service improve?
Once it’s up and running, the main change for 5G users will be increased speed and reduced delay.
Plans are for peak data rates of around 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) down to the receiver, and 10 Gbps up to the base station. The delay (the time taken to get a packet from the mobile device to the base station) will for most users be less than 4 milliseconds.
Fixed wireless setups are already operating in Europe that use technologies we know will be used in 5G.
However, even though we know what technologies 5G will use, the detailed standards for mobile cellular networks are still to be formalised. Without them, companies cannot produce networking equipment and handsets.
Telecommunications companies need to find sites for the base stations, install the systems and upgrade their software. Consequently, we are still a few years off widespread deployment.
And we don’t know who will build it in Australia.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102199/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Philip Branch, Associate Professor in Telecommunications Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-mobile-network-anyway-this-is-5g-boiled-down-102199" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

What is a mobile network, anyway? This is 5G, boiled down: Philip Branch

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New rules introduced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are designed to stop households being left without any access to telecommunications services during their migration to the National Broadband Network.
The new <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/service-continuity-standard-your-obligations" target="_blank">Service Continuity Standard</a> is the latest in a slate of regulatory measures taken by the ACMA.
It seeks to improve end user experience during and after transition to the NBN.
The standard takes effect on 21 September.
Where feasible NBN and telecommunications providers must not disconnect existing fixed-line services unless a new NBN connection is working and if there is a problem during the migration, legacy copper-based services need to be reconnected where possible or an alternative service offered while the problem is resolved.
The ACMA redrafted the standard following consultations with Communications Alliance, industry stakeholders, and consumer groups including the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.
The revised standard includes the concept of an “NBN backup service” that is not based on the new network nor on the legacy copper network.
There may still be a small number of cases where, despite these new rules, a consumer’s old network service is disconnected before they have a working NBN service. In these cases, the NBN retail CSP has three working days to get the NBN service working properly.
If the NBN retail CSP can’t get it working properly in this period, and they also supplied the old network service to the consumer, they must, in most cases, reconnect the consumer’s old network service within three working days.
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NBN rollout rules to stop households being left without telecommunication services

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The property and telecommunications industries are at odds over infrastructure rules that will set the stage for the 5G wireless network.
While building owners accuse mobile carriers of paying lower rents and an “increasingly aggressive interpretation" of the laws related to the way buildings are used for telecommunications equipment, mobile carriers say the allegation of widespread problems is questionable.
The Property Council of Australia says that with the Telecommunications Act 1997 and its code of practice under reviewed by the Commonwealth government, the powers and immunities given to providers of mobile network infrastructure must also be reformed.
Building owners are complaining that they are forced to give over space at below-market rents, put up with cables inappropriately and are left to manage redundant kit at the end of a lease when a carrier walks away, reported The Australian Financial Review.
"Telecommunications carriers, with legislative protection, are too often a law unto themselves, show little regard for building owners or other tenants, and pay next to no rent," Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison was cited as saying by the AFR.
"The days of offering $1 rent to use a building must end," he said.
The council says in its submission to the review that the 20-year-old act has no provision for low-cost dispute-resolution mechanism so building owners are forced to put up with problems as the courts as the only recourse.
The 5G  mobile telecommunication network, due to be in operation by 2020, will be more complex and denser than its predecessors, meaning more mobile infrastructure in buildings. 
Mobile networks top body, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, said regulatory processes need to be simplified to roll out the network that will underpin technology such as ultra high-definition video and the machine-to-machine communication of driverless vehicles.
"One of the fundamental characteristics of the regulatory environment needed is it must keep up with technology and reflect the deployment environment that industry has to work in," said AMTA chief executive Chris Althaus.
"Part of that will be working more closely with building owners, property owners, but equally part of it must be efficient regulation."
The federal Communications Department’s review is expected to be handed over to the government by the year end.  
It has already proposed amendments that would save telcos up to $100 million a year through measures such as raising the size thresholds of equipment that needs planning approvals and making it easier to install replacement towers.
Althaus said property owners and telcos should work together, but questioned the allegation of widespread problems.
"On balance, given the high volume of deployment that has taken place in this country over the last three decades, the number of concerns, complaints and troubled circumstances is relatively low," he said.
The Communications Department said there was strong demand by consumers and businesses for better communications services and that carrier powers and immunities were designed to strike the right balance between quick and effective deployment of infrastructure and community and property safeguards.
 
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Building owners, telcos spar over network infrastructure rules

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The first Burgess Rawson portfolio auction of the year saw a Vodafone facility on the Gold Coast fetch $6.1 million.
Auctioneer David Scholes advised there was a renewed secure 10 year net lease to June 2025 plus options to 2035.
<a href="https://www.burgessrawson.com.au/buying/QLD/Gold-Coast/Arundel/Office/4P0195#.VszCAYx96AI" target="_blank">Leased to Vodafone</a>, the tenant has been in occupation for 15 years at the strategically positioned telecommunications facility located at Arundel 7 km from the Southport CBD.
It is one of only three Vodafone high tech facilities in Queensland with a site area of 2,738 sqm.
Its annual rental increases are 3.5% until 2020 and 3.25% until 2024, with the tenant paying all outgoings including and tax.
Its net income was $430,000 pa + GST, increasing to $445,050 pa + GST in June 2016.
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Telecommunication

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