A growing demand

The public’s appetite for faster, more reliable mobile connectivity is growing by the day. According to London Live, regulator Ofcom believes that by 2024 there will be 156 million connected smartphones, tablets and other devices across the UK. 30 million of these will be in London. In addition, the Mayor intends to make London a “Gigabit City” – to enable download speeds of 1,000 megabits per second.

As a result, operators will continue to face demands to improve speeds, improve coverage, and ensure reliability at all times. Building additional infrastructure in London including new sites, backhaul, equipment, and systems will require a significant amount of planning and investment from the mobile operator including coordination and cooperation with the City of London. The Mayor has been proactive in this regard such as easing requirements by allowing street furniture (for example, lampposts, signposts, and traffic signal poles) to be used for small cell deployment to improve network coverage, but this isn’t without its own challenges.

Testing will be crucial

Network testing companies like GWS play an important role in the development of the country’s current and future networks. With our industry-leading testing methods, we can efficiently yet thoroughly benchmark problematic areas and identify not-spots across all available wireless networks using a variety of mobile devices and test equipment. Our robust testing allows us to highlight areas where strengthening signal coverage or taking other actions to optimize performance would be beneficial. To put into context — we determine where in the network opportunities exist for operators to make changes and improve customer experience (such as installing small cells on street furniture).

GWS’ testing sets itself apart due to its comprehensiveness, quality, and rigour. Our benchmark testing focuses on customer experience and satisfaction as they relate to network performance. We perform drive, walk and in-venue performance tests using scientific methods in a controlled environment. We also access key device metrics which aren’t available in other forms of testing, like Layer 3 data. This helps us to get to the root of issues, to do a detailed assessment that is combined with key network performance data – and ultimately provide operators with the most optimal solution to improve their network.

A brighter, smarter future

The work we do to assess and benchmark major operators’ services is underpinning a very bright future for the UK’s wireless connectivity. EE recently became the first MNO to demonstrate a near Gigabit performance on their LTE network. During a football match at Wembley stadium, EE achieved download speeds of 765 Mbps and upload speeds of 110 Mbps. O2 has also provided an exciting glimpse of the advanced opportunities available. In Aberdeen, O2 and the Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG) have installed the UK’s first fibre connected small cell network. While it enables the quickest download speeds currently available, it also provides the infrastructure required for 5G and a look into the near future. Stay tuned for updates on how we’re helping to usher in the new era of connectivity for the UK’s consumers and businesses alike.

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However, while much attention is focused on the end vision of a truly connected city, an often-overlooked detail is how these new smart infrastructure projects and systems will be managed and held together.

A smart city is powered by a multitude of devices, sensors, connectivity paths, network nodes and gateways which deliver both critical and non-critical services to respective communities (for example, services that may involve traffic management, energy consumption, or waste management). These complex networks and the connected devices they support must be maintained at a level of robustness that provides consistent, reliable communication.

The bottom line — smart cities must be built using smart (and resilient) networks. Ensuring that networks are meeting operational performance standards (i.e., are up to the task) is crucial otherwise how do you know if the connected infrastructure is being maintained properly or is delivering services the way it should.

Wired or wireless – it doesn’t matter, it all needs to be tested.  According to Gartner, in three years, 10% of smart cities will be using streetlamps as the backbone for a smart city WAN. And at the same time, much of the connectivity that powers smart city devices will also come from mobile networks; not to mention that smartphones themselves will play a pivotal role in smart city applications. Put another way, the routine network testing and monitoring performed on today’s mobile networks should also factor into any wider smart city deployment plans (we’re talking about controlled, rigorous benchmarking).

To put it all into perspective — testing helps a city’s managing authority catch any faults before they impact critical city services such as emergency, energy and environmental services. Thus, network testing ought to be considered now as part of the planning process, as smart cities simply cannot succeed without proper network benchmarking.  Those in charge of connected city deployments and management must ensure that a sound, rigorous monitoring process is in place to enable measurement, evaluation and intelligent investment decisions.

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