A conversation with Former Chief Scientific Advisor, Department of International Trade, UK
The outstanding growth of the telecom industry has been nothing short of miraculous, defying all expectations, and heralding new avenues of growth, development, and prospects. By enabling connectivity and access, it served as a prologue to the tale of digitalization.
Now with the advent of 5G, hyper-connectivity, near real-time info relaying, and super-fast applications, we are ready to enter into a new era of automation that will usher in breakthroughs.
With a ringside view of the core developments in the telecom domain for over four decades, Dr Mike Short is best placed to comment on the seminal shifts underway, and how things will eventually shape up in this vibrant sector. An industry veteran and expert on technical standards, he was honored with a CBE in 2012 for his contributions to the mobile industry.
As the former Vice President of Telefonica for 17 years, he was responsible for 2G and 3G rollout in Britain. He also led global research for innovation and standards for Telefonica Europe and currently is a visiting professor at the universities of Surrey, Coventry, Leeds and Salford.
In 2017, he became the first Chief Scientific Advisor, Department of International Trade ( DIT), Government of the UK.
“Thriving competition has brought down the prices of usage quite a lot. If you want resilient, reliable networks, there’s got to be some investment somewhere”, says Dr Mike Short, in an exclusive interview with Geospatial World.
What do you think needs to be done for 5G standardization so that it could deliver more benefits to the end-users and spawn truly innovative applications?
The standardization of 5G is quite advanced already. In some areas such as open networks and open RAN, Indian companies are already involved. It’s likely that some of the applications that would sit on 5G, be it mobile internet applications or GPS-based applications, would simply follow the standards that come from ETSI.
I think there’s a need to understand what the standards are, and then apply them. Adhering to global standards would help companies who want to become exporters.
I think one key advantage of the roadmap to 5G is the rapid cost reduction per unit. There was a time when phones used to cost $3000. The amount has reduced drastically today due to global standards. Indian businesses need to stay with the ETSI standards and then use them to the best effect.
These days we are witnessing a lot of transformations due to technology convergence, digitalization, and interoperability. And all of these have received a boost post-pandemic. What do you think would be the impact of geospatial technologies and location intelligence on telecommunications going forward?
Telecom has come a long way. We already see that Wi-Fi and cellular are now in the same smartphone. This means two modes in the same phone, while in the early days, there was just one. In the years to come, we will have a third mode – satellites will play a big role.
GPS is already used in smartphones, but to have communications up to a satellite, a SATCOM-type approach is necessary. I think there are four markets between the satellite industry and the cellular industry. The first market is the whole area of navigation and timing, the application of GPS or GNSS. The second market is backhaul, which is the ability to reach remote cellular base stations with satellite backhaul.
The third market would be coverage, particularly areas of joint coverage via the cellular phone and the satellite phone. It could be initially provided by two handsets, but integrated in time. This would enable access to remote areas and help provide coverage over the sea as well. Satellite is much better at covering the sea than cellular.
I think we will soon see direct-to-handset devices. Apple has already announced a proposal in the USA for direct-to-handset for emergency services. It is likely to extend to other countries as well.
Some analysts say that with 5G, the digital divide is poised to increase. What can be done to reduce this gap so that there is uninterrupted connectivity for everyone across all corners of the globe?
Mobile is the most inclusive technology on the planet today with over 5.5 billion people connected. The truth is not everybody has a smartphone. Though not everyone has access to the internet. One aspect that needs to be addressed is to make the internet relevant for everybody. That’s not just a coverage issue, it’s a content issue.
We need to start addressing issues from a content and coverage point of view. Cost also factors into it. As a result, we are seeing more phones being recycled now, which is helping to bring down the cost.
Thriving competition has brought down the prices of usage quite a lot. If you want resilient, reliable networks, there’s got to be some investment somewhere.
5G and the impending revolution in telecommunications will be a game changer for a lot of sectors such as mobility for connected cars, and VR for gaming. How do you foresee its role in the broader fourth industrial revolution?
I tend to call it a mobile internet market rather than the 4G or a 5G market because actually the generations actually just improve your capability. The mobile internet market will grow rapidly as more and more devices and people and machines are connected.
There’s some integration needed into how mobile connectivity works with machines. You don’t have smart meters here in every home, but actually, you need to design that from a connectivity point of view as well. It’s got to give benefits to society, whether it’s to the consumer or to business or to the government. The benefits will pull through more of these integration solutions.
Startups and innovators see the opportunities. Sometimes they need to knock down walls or barriers to actually deliver them. And sometimes it’s an investment barrier – be it finding a distribution partner, or a key customer. These are hard issues that every business has to face in reality.
What do you think about the future prospects of trade partnerships, technology trade partnerships in telecom between India and the UK?
I think technology and trade partnerships are just going very fast. At the end of the day, we work in a global world. It’s not defined by geography. Ideas don’t stop at the border. And if people want to communicate better, they’re going to have to trade better. Telecom and digital are a key part of it.
I think some of the regulation and liberalization here in India is a step in the right direction. Tech incubators such as T-hub in Hyderabad are great.
How is geospatial analytics augmenting the telecom industry overall?
It’s just not visible, but actually, there’s a lot of geospatial being used in telecoms all the time. So it’s used, for example, to do radio planning. Where do you put a base station? Yes, you might combine it with other statistics like usage and where the people live.
But the mapping that comes from GNSS and GPS is really helpful to radio networks already. Some of the services that customers get are based on GPS. So you even see the times of India saying if you want to send a photograph, make sure you enable the GPS before you send in the photograph.
So this is being used already and I think will continue to be used. I think what’s interesting is we can also see with earth observation so much more about our planet that that’s great for the geospatial industry. Earth observation is complementary to the mobile communications industry as well as the needs of the planet.
Other than 5G, which is the, what we can say, the most conspicuous technology and key areas where the telecom industry will play a leading role?
Well, I think we’re playing a leading role in areas like security. So obviously we don’t want data to leak, we want it to be securely handled. I think we will continue to play a leading role in applications such as financial services. I think we’ll play a leading role in connecting objects, so the internet of things. We certainly are using much more cloud computing now in 5G networks than ever before. So sharing resources in the cloud is as good as sharing networks.
We clearly are looking at issues like distributed ledger technology and Blockchain. There are other techniques around identity management where the mobile industry really leads the way. You can see a lot of things being used in the mobile industry that then transfer into other sectors.
The electronics that are used for mobile phones are now used in cars because we have the volume, and they get the benefit as well. You could also see a crossover into the entertainment industry with things like VR and augmented reality.
These days there’s a lot of emphasis on geospatial intelligence/open-source intelligence and situational awareness. Do you think telecom and 5G will play a role in it or maybe will catalyze its transition to something else?
It’s already playing a role. If you look at data visualization, particularly from sensors, if the data comes from a sensor, an IoT sensor, you need to visualize it somewhere. You need to do the data crunching. That’s often done through the telecoms route, often blended with other geo data that may be relevant.
Clearly, you need to know where the sensor is with some accuracy, but also you might want to add some trend analysis that goes hand in hand with it. We are a big user of geospatial and we will continue to be.
