A Social Life of 5G: Imagining, Contesting, and Fixing the Rollout of an Emerging Technology

Abstract

5G, the fifth generation of wireless network, is currently being ‘rolled-out’ across the UK. The UK Government anticipates that this digital technology will be transformative for society and the economy. However, its emerging status means that 5G’s final form is unknown, with its future possibilities currently being shaped by how different people practice, imagine, narrate, and make sense of it. This research argues that 5G is more than a technical ‘next step’ as its rollout is filled with fragmentary narratives and practices, which are shaped by the politics of ambition, public anxieties, and attempts to fix 5G as singular. By undertaking interviews, in-person and digital ethnographies, and discourse analysis, this thesis examines the social life of 5G as a complex and contested technology profoundly shaped by its social and political context, via a critical analysis of its rollout. In doing so, it builds upon key debates within Digital Geographies concerning technological futures, infrastructures, and knowledge politics and communities. Through examining the contestations surrounding 5G’s safety and Huawei’s geopoliticised role within 5G networks, this research engages with radically different knowledge communities and their conceptualisations of 5G. Such an analysis demonstrates that 5G is not a singular technology but is best thought of as multiplicities. From this basis, this thesis proposes that thinking with the idea of ‘fixing’ is generative for examining how people try to shape and define an emerging technology, whilst also being attentive to the ways multiplicities continually (re)form. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to prospective research within Digital Geographies about future technologies, and complicates the geographical imaginary of a smooth technological rollout.