Abstract
The capacity and coverage requirements for 5th generation (5G) and beyond wireless connectivity will be significantly different from the predecessor networks. To meet these requirements, the anticipated deployment cost in the United Kingdom (UK) is predicted to be between £30bn and £50bn, whereas the current annual capital expenditure (CapEX) of the mobile network operators (MNOs) is £2.5bn. This prospect has vastly impacted and has become one of the major delaying factors for building the 5G physical infrastructure, whereas other areas of 5G are progressing at their speed. Due to the expensive and complicated nature of the network infrastructure and spectrum, the second-tier operators, widely known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), are entirely dependent on the MNOs. In this paper, an extensive study is conducted to explore the possibilities of reducing the 5G deployment cost and developing viable business models. In this regard, the potential of infrastructure, data, and spectrum sharing is thoroughly investigated. It is established that the use of existing public infrastructure (e.g., streetlights, telephone poles, etc.) has a potential to reduce the anticipated cost by about 40% to 60%. This paper also reviews the recent Ofcom initiatives to release location-based licenses of the 5G-compatible radio spectrum. Our study suggests that simplification of infrastructure and spectrum will encourage the exponential growth of scenario-specific cellular networks (e.g., private networks, community networks, micro-operators) and will potentially disrupt the current business models of telecommunication business stakeholders – specifically MNOs and TowerCos. Furthermore, the anticipated dense device connectivity in 5G will increase the resolution of traditional and non-traditional data availability significantly. This will encourage extensive data harvesting as a business opportunity and function within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as large social networks. Consequently, the rise of new infrastructures and spectrum stakeholders is anticipated. This will fuel the development of a 5G data exchange ecosystem where data transactions are deemed to be high-value business commodities. The privacy and security of such data, as well as definitions of the associated revenue models and ownership, are challenging areas – and these have yet to emerge and mature fully. In this direction, this paper proposes the development of a unified data hub with layered structured privacy and security along with blockchain and encrypted off-chain based ownership/royalty tracking. Also, a data economy-oriented business model is proposed. The study found that with the potential commodification of data and data transactions along with the low-cost physical infrastructure and spectrum, the 5G network will introduce significant disruption in the Telco business ecosystem.
Highlights
The notable target 5th generation (5G) services can be named as enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLCs), massive machine-type communications, and Tactile Internet (TI) [3]–[5]
Novel 5G authentication and key agreement (AKA), subscriber identification module (USIM), and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) based design of handoff authentication for 5G wireless local area network (WLAN) heterogeneous networks (HetNets) will be needed that can extend the provisions of secure and seamless internet connectivity [58]. Many of these additional requirements come from the technology shift to software defined network (SDN) [54] and NFV [44], network slicing, mMIMO [35], NOMA [59], ultra-dense small cell network [42], D2D and M2M communications, and the cloud, and they lead to the need of increased security on the network side. 5G NOMA, mmWave, mMIMO, and beamforming can improve physical layer security of 5G networks through co-operative jamming [57], [60], which will allow secret and high-quality channel with the legitimate UEs while frustrating eavesdroppers with noisy, random, and poor channel conditions
The lack of confidence of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on the revenue generation opportunities and existing business models is a primary determinant restraining them from investing the requisite deployment cost
Summary
The rollout of 5th generation (5G) of communication networks has commenced with Release-15 of 3rd Generation. The requirements, challenges, and solutions associated with 5G rollout are thoroughly reviewed In this regard, a comprehensive study on the potential sharing of network infrastructure, public infrastructure, radio spectrum, and generated-data for reducing the 5G deployment cost and developing a sustainable 5G business is conducted. Novel 5G authentication and key agreement (AKA), subscriber identification module (USIM), and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) based design of handoff authentication for 5G wireless local area network (WLAN) HetNets will be needed that can extend the provisions of secure and seamless internet connectivity [58] Many of these additional requirements come from the technology shift to software defined network (SDN) [54] and NFV [44], network slicing, mMIMO [35], NOMA [59], ultra-dense small cell network [42], D2D and M2M communications, and the cloud, and they lead to the need of increased security on the network side. The LSA-based spectrum sharing can be realized across several dimensions including time, frequency and geographical location, and relies on a sharing framework under the responsibility of national regulatory authority/administration [85]
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