Technology Developers and users of embedded devices, enterprise software and apps with data-heavy features.

Health Healthcare providers who have distributed workforces or work in large partnerings or supply chains.

5G offers something for most sectors – here are a few examples: The benefits of 5G are essentially speed and capacity: it is billed as being able to transmit more data per second, which translates to faster and more capable mobile data compared with 4G. So what's really in it for the West Midlands? Is it just about getting profile for the West Midlands Combined Authority? Perhaps, but I think there's also something in it for the whole technology supply sector in the West Midlands, and their customers. Central Government's initial contribution is just £25m (around 12% of the overall budget allocated by central Government to 5G), and it's a fraction of the £1bn allocated by central Government to next-generation digital infrastructure. However, the pilot has regional scale, and inevitably only a select few organisations will have the opportunity to directly participate in the 5G trials to develop technology (and enjoy the revenue).

On the face of it £75m is a big number and promises opportunities for private and public sector organisations, across a range of sectors. The announcement by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport focuses on four sector case studies (remote clinical assessments, behaviour monitoring on public transport, and autonomous vehicles), evidently chosen for their relevance to public services and their resonance with popular themes and stories in the news. We learnt earlier this week that Government funding to the tune of £50m (with the possibility of a further £25m at a later stage) is coming to Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, to fund part of the 5G Testbed and Trials Programme.

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