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seeing greater consumer demand for , and a return on investment from , innovative services , such as augmented reality ( AR ) and 360-degree video .” He adds that early 5G adopters in APAC , like China and South Korea , have also seen “ various vertical industry developments including more ecosystem partnerships between mobile network operators , device and application providers , system integrators and 5G technology providers .” This kind of collaboration has , Williamson explains , been key to driving greater adoption in APAC , compared to the UK and US .
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The UK : Going at its own pace ? In the context of the global 5G rollout , the UK is something of an odd-one-out . The country was one of the first to launch 5G commercially - with EE getting its network up and running as early as May of 2019 - but since then , Williamson explains , “ things have been moving more slowly .”
Dr . Paul Carter , Founder and CEO of the GWS , adds that the UK ’ s operators - in addition to being hampered by several spectrum auction delays - haven ’ t displayed as much of the frantic urgency that ’ s defining 5G rollouts elsewhere . “ Even though the deployment of 5G is in a dedicated midband for all operators , they are investing in and integrating it with their existing networks at their own pace and at locations that fit within their own capital improvement plans ,” he explains . “ From coverage availability to the amount of dedicated ( or shared ) spectrum to 4G / 5G ’ s combined use of available network resources , there are many complex and intertwined factors that impact the quality and ultimate performance of today ’ s 5G . And for each operator in the UK , this experience and corresponding level of quality is different .” mobile-magazine . com 47