200,000 nationwide traffic lights open to 5G base stations in 2023

Recently the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Electronic Edition reported the following:

5G基地局に信号機開放　全国20万基、23年度に

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経済 政治 IoT モバイル・5G 自動運転

2019/6/3 18:00日本経済新聞　電子版

政府が6月中旬にも閣議決定する新たなIT（情報技術）戦略の概要が明らかになった。自治体が全国に設置している約20万基の信号機をNTTドコモなど国内通信4社に開放し、次世代通信規格「5G」の基地局として利用できるようにするのが柱だ。既存の設備を使うことで世界で競争の激しい5Gを低コストでスピードも早く普及させることができる。自治体は自動運転の実現や災害時の情報伝達などに利用する。

信号機の5G利用は2020年度から複数の都市で実験を進め、23年度の全国展開をめざす。

5Gの普及には全国に数十万規模の基地局の整備が必要とされる。電波の飛ぶ距離は4Gに比べ短く、たとえば5G向けに割り当て済みの28ギガ（ギガは10億）ヘルツ帯の周波数は半径数百メートル程度といわれる。つながりやすいネットワークの構築には「きめ細かなエリア展開が必要になる」とドコモの担当者は語る。

ドコモとKDDI、ソフトバンク、楽天モバイルの国内通信4社は4Gよりも多くの基地局を設置する必要がある。

鉄塔を建てるスペースの少ない都市部ではビルの屋上に基地局を置く場合が多い。通信大手によると「屋上はすでに飽和状態で新設は困難」だという。地権者との交渉は手間も時間もかかる。総務省は屋内外で一部設備を共用するための指針を18年末に公表した。

全国にある約20万基の信号機を利用できるようになれば、基地局の設置スピードは格段に上がりそうだ。日本は他の国に比べ面積の割合で信号機の数が多いとされる。

コスト抑制も期待できる。ドコモは4Gの基地局を18年度末時点で全国20万8500局保有する。10年度から18年度までの累計の投資額は約2.4兆円と、1局あたりの投資コストは約1千万円かかった。5Gは既存基地局のソフトウエアの更新でも対応できるため、1局あたりの投資は4Gより少ない見込みだ。信号機を利用すれば投資費用を大幅に圧縮できる可能性が高い。

政府は今後、通信会社と調整に入る。信号機の利用には自治体だけでなく通信各社にも費用の負担を要請する方向だ。

信号機にはあらゆるモノがネットにつながる「IoT」の機能を持つITセンサーを取り付ける。政府が目標とするのは「トラステッド・メッシュネット」（災害時でも不通にならない信頼できる通信網）の構築だ。ネットワークは通信会社と警察、自治体などが利用し、互いにアクセスできない仕組みにする。

信号機を所有、管理する自治体は5Gの基地局を設置した信号機を住民サービスに利用する。

例えば自動運転の実現に弾みがつくとみる。信号機から周辺の交通状況を自動送信できるようになる。周囲に老人や子どもが歩いていないか自動車に伝達したり、渋滞を回避したりできるようになる。災害時は信号機にマイナンバーカードをかざすと、自治体が生存確認して家族に知らせるサービスなども想定する。

政府は5Gをデジタル社会を支える公共インフラと位置づけ、普及を急ぐ。7日のIT総合戦略本部（本部長・安倍晋三首相）で新戦略を示し、今夏以降に総務省、警察庁、国土交通省など関係省庁や自治体が協議会を立ち上げる。

Translation

An outline of a new IT (Information Technology) strategy that the government would make a cabinet decision in mid-June was revealed. The key idea was to open up about 200,000 traffic lights installed by the local government to four domestic telecommunications companies such as NTT, DoCoMo and to use it as a base station for the next-generation telecommunications standard, the "5G". By using the existing equipment, it was possible to spread 5G which was fiercely competitive in the world at a low cost and quick speed. The local government would use it to realize automatic driving and to send information in the event of a disaster.

For the 5G to use traffic lights, experiments would be conduct in multiple cities from fiscal year 2020 and aim at a nationwide development in fiscal year 2023.

The spread of the 5G required the development of hundreds of thousands of base stations throughout the country. 5G radio wave flying distance was shorter than 4G, for example, a frequency of 28 gigahertz (giga would be 1 billion) hertz band that was assigned for 5G was said to have a radius of several hundred meters. Building a network that was easy to connect "required detailed area development," said a DoCoMo representative.

DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank, and Rakuten Mobile were the four domestic carriers needed to have more base stations than 4G.

In urban areas where space would be limited for towers building, base stations were often placed on the roof of the building. According to a major telecommunications company, "the roof is already saturated and new establishment is difficult". Negotiations with landowners take time and effort. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced at the end of 2018 a guideline for sharing some equipment indoors and out.

The speed of installing base stations was likely to increase dramatically if it could use the about 200,000 traffic lights throughout the country. Japan was said to have a large number of traffic lights at an area ratio compared to other countries.

Cost control could also be expected. As of the end of the 2018, DOCOMO would own 28,500 stations of 4G base stations. The total investment amount from fiscal year 2010 to 2018 was approximately 2.4 trillion yen, and the investment cost per station was approximately 10 million yen. Since 5G could cope with software updates of existing base stations, investment per station was expected to be less than 4G. There was a high possibility that investment costs could be greatly reduced by using traffic lights.

The government would now coordinate with telecommunications companies. Not only the local government but also the telecommunications companies were required to bear the expense for the use of traffic lights.

At the traffic light an IT sensor with the "IoT" function that connected everything to the Internet would be attached. The government's goal would be to build a "Trusted Mesh-net" (a reliable communication network that would not be interrupted even in the event of a disaster). The communication companies used the network to communicate with the police and the local government, yet making them mutually inaccessible.

The local government that owned and managed traffic lights would use traffic lights equipped with 5G base stations for community service.

For example, it was supposed that it would give momentum to realize automatic driving. It would be possible to automatically transmit the surrounding traffic conditions from the traffic light. It would be possible to transmit to a car on whether old people and children were walking around, and it would enable avoiding traffic congestion. In the event of a disaster, if someone hold a my-number-card over a traffic light, the local government could assume a service of confirming one’s survival and inform the family.

The government regarded 5G as a public infrastructure that would support a digital society and hurry up its spreading. The new strategy would be shown at the IT Comprehensive Strategy Headquarters (Director General -Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) on the 7th, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and other related ministries and local governments would start the conference starting this summer.

              I think it is an ingenious way for Japan to spread the 5G networks by making use of the existing traffic lights.