Tom Leslie has joined the Real Wireless team as a Principal Consultant, find out more about his experience and view of the wireless industry.
- How does your prior work experience relate to this position?
Throughout my 13 years working in the wireless telecoms industry, I’ve been very fortunate to work on some of the biggest and most challenging projects. My start came in the lead-up to the Olympic Games in London in 2012 as a technician, commissioning and testing some of the most complex wireless systems in the games venues. I’ve had varied roles since then, often focused on the technical aspects as design engineering lead and supporting MNOs with their solutions for large venues, as well as in project and team management roles. More recently, I was in a pre-sale’s consultancy role supporting the development of products for neutral host indoor and outdoor applications, which drew significantly on my experience of network architectures.
- What do you see as the most significant challenges and opportunities facing the wireless industry today?
As wireless technology becomes increasingly embedded into different aspects of society, the wireless infrastructure we rely on needs to be more available and more localised to the user. This means overcoming various obstacles to bring wireless into buildings and environments that are difficult to work in, particularly if you also want to bring the benefits of high bandwidth technologies such as 5G. People’s reliance on the mobile device in their pocket is not going to reduce any time soon, so this challenge must be met with collaboration between the wireless industry and the locations where users congregate.
- What’s been your most successful/interesting project so far and why?
I have been involved in the design of various stadium and arena wireless infrastructure projects throughout my career, but more recently as neutral hosts became more prominent, I took great satisfaction in overcoming the challenges of coordinating multiple MNO stakeholders with their technical requirements to deliver an approved JOTS design for one of the largest UK stadia. Each MNO has their own strategic requirements, but the venue client’s interests need to be kept at the heart of any design. The project was delivered successfully, and the lessons learned throughout the project are invaluable to me in my current role.
- What’s your vision for how wireless technology will benefit users, businesses, and economies in the next five years?
The next five years are likely to be transformative in the way wireless technologies are integrated with businesses, venues and users. The continued development of 5G, Open-RAN and AI are accelerating shifts away from traditional models whilst the demand for connectivity continues to grow. For the average user, wireless will continue to be a necessity but the infrastructure behind this will be driven by these changing factors. Understanding where these trends should impact a building’s strategy and future planning for its wireless infrastructure is key to delivering the best outcome, and not just following industry hype.
- How can wireless infrastructure in the built environment be designed and deployed more sustainably to reduce energy consumption, minimise e-waste, and ensure long-term environmental benefits while supporting the growing demand for connectivity?
There is a lot of work being done on this topic throughout the industry, but to get the best outcomes on sustainability the solutions will come from both advancing technology and increased cooperation between stakeholders. Infrastructure sharing has always been a key driver of the neutral host model in the built environment, but with the trend to virtualise several aspects of the RAN hardware, there are far more opportunities to reduce unnecessary energy consumption and share resources across multiple operators. Use of data centres to remove hardware from cell sites is making a big impact, both in terms of reducing energy consumption and saving landlords considerable space on site which can be used more effectively. With the advent of 5G, the use of software-defined radios has also enabled developments in network slicing and AI, which looks to allow networks to dynamically reduce base station powers and/or divert capacity resource amongst other power saving initiatives.
- What advice would you give to somebody at the start of their career thinking about going into the wireless industry?
The wireless industry is a brilliant one to get involved in as it is continually evolving – in fact, the pace of technology change looks to only be increasing. This makes for a rewarding career no matter which aspect or discipline you might pursue. My advice would be to always keep sight of the real-world impact being made to users and society, but also to have the confidence to challenge conventional wisdom – it is an industry that embraces new ideas.
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