According to BBC news (“5G: Finally, it’s here in the UK – so what is it?” by Leo Kelion, May 30 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48426481, 5G has been introduced to selected cities in the UK – with limited capacity.

Anticipated uses eventually include the remote control of vehicles, robotic surgery and “live-streamed virtual reality”.

Antennas will be needed everywhere. “Smarter” services will be provided through authorities and businesses using hundreds of thousands of sensors to learn more about our behaviours.

Machines will be able to communicate with each other.

Technology analyst Stephanie Hare is quoted saying that these plans call into question how much “agency we will have.” There is a risk that we “won’t be able to opt out.”

It is expected that separate broadband service for most homes via fiber-optic cables won’t be necessary. According to one of the companies, digging up roads is expensive and it is easier to provide wireless connectivity.

Do you notice the way the story is written implies a sense of inevitability. Where does that authority come from to tell us what is going to be done?

The story quotes an expert who warns about our loss of freedom or agency and that we may not be able to opt out.

Notice that the plan is about the creation of “smart cities” and massive surveillance of everything and everyone.

Is this a “service” that consumers asked for?

Why do we need “smart cities”? Why not better housing or better jobs or better hospitals ?

How is this being paid for?

Who has the right to place antennas and censors everywhere?

There is more technical information at IHS Markit
https://technology.ihs.com/611104/5g-and-massive-iot (“5G and Massive IoT: legacy technologies will bridge the gap for now” by Christian Kim, February 13, 2019)
(More info: https://technology.ihs.com/Services/484941/cellular-iot-intelligence-service)

• The 3GPP specification roadmap is explained. https://www.3gpp.org/: 3GPP is The Mobile Broadband Standard
• Massive IoT (Internet of Things) includes release 14, 15, and 16.
• IMT-2020 standard (for 5G) requires minimum connection density of 1 million devices per square km. Who has the right to put potentially one million devices in every square kilometer?
• 4G LPWA standard only supports 60,680 devices per square km
• Release 14 was in 2017 (more advanced 4G standards are LTE-M and NB-IoT)
• Release 15 is 5G Phase 1 – standards completed in June 2018 so the launch is expected in late 2019 or early 2020.
• Release 16 is 5G Phase 2 – expected in 2020
• Smart cities and smart utilities projects drive the growth of IoT connectivity
• 4G, 3G and 2G will fill in the gaps until 5G is complete
  Research: will these older signals always be present alongside 5G?

We can quickly get a sense of a very large agenda.

Smart Cities

• https://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/overview/ IBM: Smarter Cities. This redirects to more up to date information on the same topic: https://www.ibm.com/industries/government. To see the original page from 2011, use web.archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20110821160957/https://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/overview/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_city
• https://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/about-us-global (https://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/about-us-global -> new: https://smartcitiescouncil.com/about-us)

Technology Standards and Business Examples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowband_IoT

NB-IoT Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services

https://iot.t-mobile.com/ T-Mobile company page on Internet of Things.
Services made possible: asset tracking, smart cities (“smart street lighting,” “complex public safety systems”), “smart buildings”, fleet monitoring.

LTE-M: https://www.link-labs.com/blog/what-is-lte-m

LTE-M is the abbreviation for LTE Cat-M1 or Long Term Evolution (4G), category M1. This technology is for Internet of Things devices to connect directly to a 4G network, without a gateway and on batteries.

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/business/enterprise-solutions/internet-of-things/low-power-wide-area

With the number of connected devices increasing at an exponential rate, it’s vital for cellular services to meet the specific application needs of the Internet of Things. TELUS is ushering in a new era of connectivity with a network purpose-built for IoT solutions. The TELUS LTE-M Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) Network offers everything you need to take your IoT solution further.

https://www.ericsson.com/en/portfolio/networks/network-solutions/cellular-iot Ericsson: Cellular IoT

IMT-2020 and ITU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMT-2020

International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020 Standard) are the requirements issued by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2015 for 5G networks, devices and services

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/imt-2020/Pages/default.aspx ITU: Focus Group on IMT-2020
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/study-groups/rsg5/rwp5d/imt-2020/Pages/default.aspx ITU towards “IMT for 2020 and beyond”
Standardization: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/about/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.itu.int/en/about/Pages/default.aspx About International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs.

Founded in 1865 to facilitate international connectivity in communications networks, we allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strive to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.  Every time you make a phonecall via the mobile, access the Internet or send an email, you are benefitting from the work of ITU. 

ITU is committed to connecting all the world’s people – wherever they live and whatever their means. Through our work, we protect and support everyone’s right to communicate.

“right to communicate”? At any cost to health and privacy, we have the right to impose invasive radio frequency waves on others just in order to communicate (as if this technology is about that)?

ITU embodies principles of public-private partnership, with its current membership of 193 countries and over 800 private-sector entities and academic institutions. ​

Founded on the principle of international cooperation between governments (Member States) and the private sector (Sector Members, Associates and Academia), ITU is the premier global forum through which parties work towards consensus on a wide range of issues affecting the future direction of the ICT industry.

Does that sound like democracy? Public private partnership is the language of United Nations Agenda 21 also. This is what the United Nations is about! This is how a corporate oligarchy rules over us. But is public private partnership one of your principles or mine? Can we find this principle in our national constitutions? All of these (separate??) corporations and institutions have a voice alongside governments. What happens to one person one vote in any area of life? And what happens to local and national sovereignty?