A new report from mobile operator O2 has claimed that future 5G networks could save UK households £450 a year on energy, council and food bills. Apparently it’s all due to swanky things like smart grids, discounts on council tax (hah!) and reducing food waste etc. Break out the salt for some pinching.
The 5G-hype-o-meter has been a constant annoyance during the technology’s development and as a result it has perhaps unrealistically raised the expectations of some people toward the dizzying heights of silly town.
Sadly the new Smart Cities Report from O2 is no exception, not least because the claimed savings do not appear to have been fully weighted against the near certainty of extra costs (e.g. 5G plans will almost certainly cost more at launch due to the expensive network rollout, staff retraining, maintenance, capacity demands etc.).
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Now don’t get us wrong, 5G should be an excellent multi-Gigabit Mobile Broadband capable upgrade from the existing 4G networks and we look forward to that with open arms, yet some of the savings being predicted by O2’s report seem to be almost laughably optimistic.
O2’s Smart Cities Predictions for 5G Savings
Every household will save up to £450 a year:
* £145 will be shaved off household energy bills through the introduction of 5G-enabled smart grids that drive dynamic pricing, enable better distribution, and allow consumers to choose where they buy energy.
* Households’ council tax bills will be £66 less, if councils pass on the saving created through smart refuse collection.
* Households will save an additional £236 by reducing food waste thanks to the introduction of smart fridges, which will send ‘shelfies’ of their contents to consumers’ smartphones, helping them avoid buying un-needed food.
* Car owners could save an additional £1,600 in annual fuel costs, when an extra 1.3 million electric cars are brought onto the roads by 2025 as a result of 5G-proofed energy grids that can withstand mass charging of electric cars.
Local councils will collectively share an annual £2.8 billion of efficiency savings, brought about by:
* An £890 million reduction in social care costs for those living alone like the elderly, facilitated by 5G telehealth and monitoring. This will allow families and councils to consider alternatives to private residential care or employing carers.
* The introduction of commercial and residential smart refuse collection, which will save councils £1.8 billion.
* Energy savings of £91 million, facilitated by the adoption of smart LED street lighting, which can be dimmed or brightened remotely as needed – like Telefónica’s projects in Malaga and Santander.
GP consultations will be streamlined, relieving pressure on the NHS:
* Replacing just 5% of GP appointments with telehealth video conferencing will reduce physical GP visits by 4 million per year. This will be made possible thanks to the responsiveness and speed of 5G, which will also power improvements in telehealth imaging and data collection.
* Waiting times for GP appointments will fall, as 1 million hours of GP time is freed up, creating productivity gains of £1.3 billion through less employee absence during the working day.
* Meanwhile, 5G will enable the widespread adoption of wearable monitoring devices that will reduce 30-day NHS hospital re-admissions by 30% through aftercare monitoring, saving our cities £463 million per year and decreasing overall bed occupancy rates by 6%.
Cities’ transport infrastructure will be improved, reducing commuting time:
* 5G sensors on railway lines will drive improvements in predictive maintenance, reclaiming an estimated £440 million in lost productivity for the UK economy and regaining the average rail commuter 2.6 hours a year.
* Meanwhile, 5G-enabled road management systems, able to respond seamlessly to traffic volumes, will reduce the time spent stuck in traffic by 10% for the UK’s 5.6 million vehicle commuters.
* Commuters will also be better connected to street-level data via mobile journey planning apps linked to connected street furniture such as lamp posts and bus stops, helping them better plan journeys and avoid congested routes.
Hands up if you think 5G will actually save £66 off your council tax (it took a financial crash just to deliver a brief pause in annual increases)? Didn’t think so. What about smart fridges saving you £236 by reducing food waste (they’ve been around for a few years and yet few have a desire to own one)? Didn’t think so. Oh and don’t even get us started about 5G somehow taking all the credit for an increase in electric car sales.
No doubt there will be some aspects of the report that do end up holding true, although as usual it’s painfully difficult to accurately model the likely economic impacts of such things. Likewise many of the benefits being assigned to 5G could just as easily be delivered over existing 4G or even home broadband ISP networks if so desired; they are not all strictly unique to the fifth generation of mobile connectivity.
Derek McManus, O2’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
“There are more mobile connections in Britain than there are people and the demand for mobile frequency and easier access is only increasing. It’s clear from our report that 5G technology will play a vital role in ensuring that all citizens get the mobile service they deserve.
But while 5G promises a range of unprecedented benefits, we should be clear that these won’t be achieved without collective investment and collaboration. That means complete alignment from operators, public service providers, local authorities, landlords and technology companies to explore new opportunities for better connectivity and denser coverage.”
Now here’s a promotional video about all this..
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In other news, mobile phone contracts will be £450 more expensive to cover the costs of setting up 5G.
‘discounts on council tax’ – Haha!
O2, what a joke. Our local O2 cell site has not even been upgraded to 3G yet, we are stuck with 2G only. EX20 4QH if anyone doesn’t believe me..
And it won’t be. Your part of the world is served by the Vodafone side of the Vodafone/O2 network sharing agreement. All cell sites in the South West will be owned and maintained by Vodafone. If it’s not been upgraded yet blame Voda.
We don’t have any Vodafone coverage here at all, our local cell site is O2 only. I know they have an agreement with Vodafone, but my contract is with O2..
This sort of self-serving nonsense is beginning to get ridiculous. Any idea that this is based on an objective analysis of the technology and economic impact has long gone out the window. It’s just a branch of marketing and a cheap way for companies to get themselves some media attention.
nb. I should also add it just reads like the unfiltered output of a brainstorming session.
@Steve Jones: As ridiculous as the original BDUK studies which were used by the government to justify splashing out so much money for it. Remember the ‘for every pound spent we get xx times in return by the year 20xx’ statements?
@GNewton
Far more ridiculous. It’s possible to make a credible argument that lifting a lot of households and business out of the low megabit (or even sub-megabit) range would make a significant difference to productivity and the selling of some products, like VoD.
In contrast, most of what is being talked about by O2 has nothing to do with 5G anyway. Smart fridges for heaven sake?
@Steve Jones: Then how do you explain what the government published on 14 November 2013:
“For every £1 the government is investing in broadband, the UK economy will benefit by £20”
There must be a truly booming economy by now 🙂
Guess it’s National Write A Cr*p Report week.
The amount of BS reports is staggering.
You could make the exact same arguments about standard broadband and wifi, 3G, or 4G. I don’t understand the leap in logic they’re making that makes this about 5G.
What a load of rubbish.
Hi
“5G-proofed energy grids that can withstand mass charging of electric cars”. Have people not realised that all that will happen as electric cars become more popular is that 5G along with smart meters will mean electricity used to charge cars will be taxed. The government gets a large some of taxes from car drivers from fuel, so if that stops it has to be obtained by other means. Electric cars will not be cheaper to run, the same as they are not non polluting, another marketing load of rubbish. How many new power stations will be required to support electric car recharging, and what they will burn?
If 5G can replace FTTC then they might save that amount.
5G is a shared medium. FTTC isn’t.
Wifi is shared too, see what damage it has done to ethernet.
Just because it’s shared doesn’t mean it will never be good enough.
Wireless technology is progressing faster than wired. As the peak capacity per node goes up (5G will up this), the case for using it as a substitute for fixed line gets better. As already alluded, 4G if adequately provisioned is good enough to make something like ADSL unnecessary.
Load of rubbish. 5G doesn’t cut our bills, or council tax. Rant over!
And fry your brains with that 5g frequency range!
Is it April the 1st already?
Mother of god O2 must have had too much radiation in their corn flakes this morning. Limiting food waste does not require a 5g network. Instead just some good old fashioned common sense and solutions which already exist.
hear hear
What 5G has to do with fridges I don’t know. Apparently 5G means ‘the internet’. And the internet hasn’t been invented yet, but it’s coming out soon.
Leaving aside the ludicrous nonsense, there’s not a single thing mentioned that can’t be done with 3G, albeit ponderously. And coverage will be no better.
Seems like they have just succeeded in making themselves into a laughing stock.