The decision to allow Huawei equipment in the UK 5G RAN has set the proverbial “Cat amongst the pigeons” in international politics, 5G is portrayed as a “game changer”, enabling the Chinese state access to the UK 5G network. Appledore believe that this reflects the existing technical hype for 5G transferred to the political arena. The 5G that is being feared is a long way from the reality of any 5G that will be deployed in the near future. The UK decision is a pragmatic one that puts some limits on security risk whilst allowing the rapid economic delivery of 5G, Economics of 5G needs to leverage 4G The reality in the economics of 5G is that it needs to leverage the existing 4G network investment. In recent briefings by both Nokia and Ericsson, all of their 5G wins were tied to existing upgrade of 4G infrastructure. Nokia were very clear that the economic case for 5G roll out could not be made based on replacement of existing RAN infrastructure. All of the UK mobile operators have adopted Huawei because of its low cost, with BT and Vodafone having Huawei as a major supplier. They cannot deliver on the political demand for 5G […]