January 2019, UK: UK telecoms is stepping it up in 2019 with the introduction of nationwide 5G services. With the launch of 5G on both the fixed and mobile sides, 2019 is shaping up to be a very busy year for the UK’s BT, who is exceptionally excited about the prospects and challenges that lay ahead for the year. The telecoms service provider believes the industry is fast reaching a crucial point in its evolution as we are enter a pivotal period in telecoms history.
BT committed to a preliminary launch date in the second half of 2019 to start rolling out 5G throughout the UK. The goal is to roll out 5G service in 16 cities and 1,500 locations in 2019, and this is merely the beginning. A critical part of the planning is the acquiring of land and sites in the UK, BT is in the final stages of planning now acquiring sites across the country.
The UK government called for copper switch off and replacement with fibre by 2025. Howard Watson, Managing Director at BT, a full copper switch off in 2019 is highly unlikely. Preparations and planning for the switchover forms a crucial part of the BT strategy in the year ahead. It is essential to have migrated off copper voice lines onto IP voice lines on top of a broadband bearer. Next on the BT to do list is the PSTN switch off, which will not happen in 2019 but by the end of 2525. Finishing off the technological side of that will be of highest importance in 2019.
According to Howard Watson, as BT looks to evolve its enterprise and consumer-based network services, it will become increasingly important to deliver fully virtualised, automated networks. To this end, SD-Wan and NFVI solutions will play an increasingly prominent role in BT’s strategy in 2019. The next thing on their list is bringing programmable networks to life through, initially, software-defined WAN (SD-Wan) and NFVI solutions and using that to transform the enterprise businesses. This will start out in their global business interests and in UK B2B and medium-sized businesses. There is going to be quite a big transformation happening there.
BT is planning a major overhaul of its own IT systems. The UK’s biggest telecoms operator, is actively and consciously transforming into a leaner and more agile company. The final area of focus for 2019 will be transforming the way in which IT is managed and implemented. BT have a program called Da Vinci, focused on the end-to-end transformation of their IT development process. The program is driven to increase the number of partnerships with third-party suppliers and using more process automation, all geared towards boosting productivity.
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