According
to a press
release by the Australian Government, the 5G Working Group met in Canberra
earlier this month to discuss the development of 5G technology in Australia.
The
5G Working Group was set up to foster an ongoing 5G strategic dialogue between
industry, subject matter experts and Commonwealth Government representatives on
how best to realise the benefits of 5G across a range of portfolios and
sectors. It also works to ensure that sectoral regulatory frameworks are
updated to take advantage of 5G.
Australia
is well positioned to harness the opportunities of 5G. Australia has an
effective and competitive mobile communications market, with voice and data
coverage available to more than 99% of the population, according to an official
document titled “5G – Enabling the Future
Economy” published by the Australian Government.
In
its recent meeting, two major carriers already signaled their intention to
start rolling out 5G services from 2019. According to a press
statement released by DoCA in last October, the commercial rollout of 5G
mobile networks is expected to commence in 2020.
The 5G
Working Group discussed the future work program and agreed that further
exploration of the autonomous vehicle, agricultural and health sectors would
provide a good platform to examine the barriers and enablers to 5G application
in Australia.
Chaired
by the Deputy Secretary, Infrastructure and Consumer Group, Department of Communications
and the Arts (DoCA), the working group consists of representatives and leaders
from the government and industry.
Other
government agencies involved in the working group include the Department of Agriculture
and Water Resources, Department of Communications and the Arts, Department of
Industry, Innovation and Science, Department of Infrastructure and Regional
Development, and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, are also in the group.
5G will
be a key enabler for a range of Australian Government priorities, especially in
the areas of digital economy strategy, smart cities planning, digital
transformation, infrastructure deployment, precision agriculture, and autonomous
vehicles
Industry
representatives from mobile carriers and equipment vendors are also members of 5G
Working Group. They include: Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, Optus,
Telstra, VHA, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and Samsung.
Peak bodies from the
communication sector, Communications Alliance and Internet of Things Alliance
Australia, are also in the 5G Working Group.
This
illustrates that the Australian Government’s recognition of 5G technology as an
enabler of innovation and productivity across industry sectors and can
significantly contribute to Australian’s growth and future prosperity.
In
October last year, as reported
earlier, the Australian Government released a 5G directions paper titled “5G
– Enabling the future economy”, outlining how it will support Australia
being well-placed to realise the benefits of 5G and announced it would convene
a working group to drive the deployment of 5G in Australia.
“The
Government considers that 5G is more than an incremental change for mobile
communications. Instead, it provides the underlying architecture that will
enable the next wave of productivity and innovation across different sectors of
the Australian economy. Efficient rollout of 5G and uptake of the services it
supports has the potential to produce far-reaching economic and social benefits
and support growth of Australia’s digital economy,” according to the official document.
The 5G Working Group is expected to meet at
least twice each year, before the review of its role by 30 June 2019.
