siliconindia | | May 201919The availability of high-speed mobile networks opens up new avenues of economic and social growth for rural areasremotest areas. In fact, the availabil-ity of high-speed mobile networks opens up new avenues of economic and social growth for rural areas.The UK government's initiative, 5G RuralFirst explores new net-work deployment strategies which promise to empower the service providers to cost effectively deploy the latest technologies in rural areas while at the same time providing new business models for people in the rural community. 5G RuralFirst5G RuralFirst project, which seeks to demonstrate that advancements in technology can be leveraged to cost-effectively provide high-speed connectivity in low-ARPU regions, is currently being undertaken in three locations ­ North Scotland in the Or-kney Islands, and Harper Adams and Somerset in rural England.The project utilizes Parallel Wire-less' ­ one of the collaborators in the RuralFirst project ­ All G approach to show that telecom operators can deploy all generation networks (2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G) on the same tele-com network infrastructure helping the telcos to be future ready without having to spend a fortune in shift-ing from older generation to newer generation technology.At the heart of the initiative is the use of virtualization technolo-gy ­ a software-enabled network ­ that allows service providers to not only expand existing networks cost-effectively but also deploy a new generation of technology on existing infrastructure.When it comes to expanding the network or deploying a new gener-ation technology in rural areas, cost becomes a big hindrance. By using the cost-effective virtualization and All G technology, the 5GRuralFirst project is trying to show that with a new approach it is easier to deploy, maintain and manage the networks in rural areas.It is also exploring how 5G tech-nology can create new business mod-els to develop new networks and demonstrate end-to-end use case, utilizing super-fast enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-low latency com-munications and supports the massive Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.The findings of the project promise to pave the way for more such tests and trials in other parts of the world, pos-sibly in India too, and help to bust the myth that latest technologies like 5G cannot be deployed cost-effectively in rural areas. The availability of high-speed mobile broadband is essential for the social and economic growth of the rural areas and the service provid-ers should explore new technology ap-proaches to ensure the same.
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