O2 Study Believes 5G Mobile Will Save UK Households £450 Per Year

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.).

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..