West Midlands to trial 5G high speed connectivity

5G is coming to the West Midlands Credit: Frank May/DPA/PA Images

Watch Chris Halpin's video news report on the 5G testbed below:

  • The West Midlands will be the first place in the UK to trial high speed 5G connectivity across multiple cities.

  • The hubs in Brmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton will pave the way for the future rollout of 5G across the UK.

  • Ideas for the trial include: connected ambulances where paramedics can live stream patient data to the hospital or seek expert advice via video link; intelligent cameras which react to incidents in public spaces; and futuristic autonomous vehicles.

What is 5G?

It stands for 5th generation of mobile networks - the first was of course 1G - which just allowed voice calls.

What does it do?

Much faster data download and upload speeds - some are saying as much as 100 times faster, wider coverage, and more stable connections.

What are the benefits?

It could open up new opportunities in:

  • Autonomous cars, which will need to be constantly connected to the internet

  • The Internet of Things devices - like smart fridges and lights

  • Virtual reality experiences

  • Drone transportation and monitoring

  • Industry - medical operations could be done from miles away via robots

Credit: Frank May/DPA/PA Images

The £75 million trial will be carried out in the health, construction and automotive sectors, with the aim of boosting economic growth and modernising public services.

Plans in the West Midlands include:

  • Hospital outpatient appointments and emergency consultations could be carried out remotely by video link without disrupted connections.

  • Connected ambulances - paramedics could access specialist advice while they are at the scene via video link and livestream patient data back to hospitals as they travel.

  • Live streaming of CCTV footage from public spaces like buses to identify potential incidents, from more places than at present.

  • Autonomous vehicle development.