BT has started its first live UK trial of 5G based technology in Canary Wharf Square. This is a high capacity zone test as Montgomery Square includes a London Underground entrance and high rise offices. The footfall is in excess of 150k people per day.
High capacity zone testing is a critical part of EE’s 5G launch program, with the first phase of its 5G roll-out targeting “hotspots” across the UK – the places that have the greatest number of people using the most mobile data.
The test hardware and spectrum are much closer to the final commercial deployments that will begin in 2019. Key to the test is a successful FCAPS deployment for live monitoring and reporting on the site and its associated backhaul. BT & EE’s handle 15 million network reporting events a day as part of their streaming architecture.