Rural 5G Update

5G is already available in Orkney, Shropshire and Somerset before it was launched in six UK major cities.

21:10 04 June 2019

Residents in Orkney, Shropshire and Somerset have been trialling 5G for different applications for months before the technology was made available in major UK cities including London. 5G Rural First, which is part funded by the UK government, has been launched to make the case for investment in areas without lots of customers. The scheme is being delivered by a consortium of more than 30 partners, including the BBC, tech companies and universities.

 

 

 

Researchers in Shropshire have been using 5G to autonomously operate a drone and a tractor in what’s known as a hands-free hectare. They are using the technology to send data to a farm a field. In Somerset, a herd of cattle on a dairy farm has been transmitting information about their health and behaviour. And in Orkney, 5G is being used to maintain Wi-Fi on an inter island ferry, monitor salmon in a fish farm, help manage numbers at tourist hotspots and monitor turbines on a wind farm.

 

 

 

EE has recently launched 5G in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. The service costs £54 a month and can only be accessed using 5G-ready phones.