5G is grabbing the headlines for various reasons, but now UK advertisers have an opportunity to get up close with the technology’s possibilities as Verizon opens a new 5G Lab and production studio in central London.

The Lab – Verizon’s first such facility outside the US – offers a live 5G-enabled environment where organisations can see existing 5G use cases and experiences in action and can also work with the Verizon team to develop 5G-enabled applications.

“One of the best ways of unleashing the true possibilities of 5G is getting it into the hands of innovators and visionaries,” said Tami Erwin, Group CEO, Verizon Business.

“Our London facility enables our international customers to benefit from this expertise as they look to deploy 5G-enabled applications and experiences.”

The Lab will be complemented by a 5G-enabled production studio, opening in April, where Verizon Media’s owned and operated brands, as well as its partners and customers, can produce premium quality, 3D content including virtual and augmented reality experiences.

It will also provide an incubator space for innovative creative companies to test and learn how they can build content in the future that benefits from 5G’s capabilities to transmit massive amounts of data almost instantaneously.

The news comes as the UK government is reported to be ready to invest in 5G broadband pilots for rural areas, this at a time when the future of the proposed 4G “shared rural network”, an agreement between the country’s four mobile companies, is in some doubt.

At the same time, the row over even the limited use of Huawei as a 5G network equipment provider continues to rumble, with some senior Conservative politicians demanding that “high-risk” vendors be ruled out.

If the rollout of 5G is proving difficult, researchers are already at work on 6G. Theodore S. Rappaport, the founder of NYU WIRELESS, explained to CNN Business that “by using electromagnetic frequencies above 95 Gigahertz, future cellphones will be able to use massive channel bandwidths and highly directional antennas that allow excellent coverage and enable new applications.

“For example, the 6G phone of the future will be able to test the air around you for allergens, explosives or toxic chemicals and determine if your food is safe to eat. It will help you see in the dark using night vision and render far better images than the human eye can see.”

Sourced from Verizon, IS Preview, BBC, CNN; additional content by WARC staff