5G network program to focus on industry pilots including smart cities, IoT, transport and smart agriculture
Italian telecom operator TIM and equipment vendor Ericsson signed an agreement to start the “5G for Italy” program designed to create an open ecosystem for research and implementation of innovative projects enabled by “5G” technology.
The initiative is set to include industries, the public sector, universities, research centers and small- and medium-sized enterprises. The group is set to focus on the development and testing of new services using a next-generation 5G network as an enabler. >The initiative is also said to deliver industry pilots of possible 5G solutions in areas including smart city, the “internet of things,” Industry 4.0, transport and smart agriculture.
TIM and Ericsson said the program has identified a number of pilot projects to be implemented, including security systems for the management of cycles and automated production processes; logistical tracking of luxury goods; solutions dedicated to mobility of goods within ports; cloud robotics for 5G-enabled manufacturing; broadband services applied to the automotive sector; management and remote monitoring of health parameters; and immersive video services enablement.
“This program allows us to develop the new network simultaneously to those services and applications that in the near future will be enabled by 5G for the digital transformation needs of Italian companies and the development of a new multimedia communication for the consumers,” said Mario Di Mauro, TIM’s strategy and innovation head.
“The two companies will work together with industries to understand their specific network requirements in order to realize the full benefits of 5G technologies,” added Nunzio Mirtillo, Ericsson’s head of the Mediterranean Region.
Vodacom, Huawei test 1 Gbps LTE network in South Africa
In other EMEA news, South African operator Vodacom and vendor Huawei said they are testing what it claims to be Africa’s first 1 gigabit per second network by aggregating LTE in both licensed and unlicensed bands with Huawei’s LampSite solution.
Huawei said it worked with Qualcomm to use a test mobile device based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with X12 LTE for the live network trial.
