TECH TALK
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IFTH GENERATION, OR 5G, MOBILE NETWORKS were name-checked in Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement last year, the chancellor announcing “future
transport, business and lifestyle needs will require world-class digital infrastructure to underpin them… my ambition is for the UK to be a world leader in 5G”. He also generously promised a £1 billion
investment to “catalyse private investment in fibre networks and to support 5G trials”. In technical terms, 5G means higher
data rates, minimal latency and low power consumption. In simpler terms, a movie is downloaded in seconds, driverless cars react faster than humans and the Internet of Things (IoT) realises its potential. Today, the technology giants are already
gearing up for this hyper-connected future, with Amazon and Google’s push into virtual assistants for smart homes, and Facebook forging ahead with live video. 5G will be
Gimme five As the UK government pledges to be a
‘world leader’ in 5G, BBT explores how the travel industry stands to benefit
from the next generation of ultra-fast mobile data speeds
key to this new era, if only to sustain the rise in consumption, and creation, of video on the go.
CONNECTING TRAVELLERS Travel technology companies are also looking ahead. “We’re always thinking about where we will be in three to five years and 5G is sitting at the end of that,” says Nigel Meyer, group technology services director at HRG. “This is real. With government funding, and likes of Google and Facebook, these ideas
will always drive something. We’re working for the connected traveller, and 5G helps to facilitate that process. That’s not to say 4G doesn’t do that, but 5G makes it more excit- ing – it’s about what else it can do. From the point of view of Fraedom [HRG’s integrated booking tool], we’re particularly excited to be able to transfer data in real-time on the virtual payment side.” Meanwhile, virtual reality is expected to
become ubiquitous as the next generation of smartphones cope with the vast amounts of data and low latency required for exploring these new worlds. 5G could then support the drive by travel brands – airlines in particular – to focus on rich content to better display their unique features and extras across booking platforms. Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT), for
example, is already experimenting with apps that allow users to virtually explore aircraft. Director Glenville Morris says: “In our own internal hackathon we tested, but didn’t release, a virtual reality app to walk around a plane. With multiple cabin types, it’s a game-changer for the airlines.” He also says MTT, which has built apps
for the likes of Etihad and Easyjet, looks “three to five years ahead” and believes by as early as 2018 UK companies will be the first to test the technology, with speed the biggest factor. “5G is 40 times faster than 4G. Booking a flight will take seconds, not minutes. Payment speeds go up. Video will take on a new world, and is probably the most exciting area. Airport wifi can be a bit sketchy, but with 5G you’ll transform that communication channel,” says Morris. Improved tracking is another area set
to grow, and experts predict there will be 23 billion IoT devices by 2019. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
32 BBT January/February 2017
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