Finnish mobile operator Elisa is upgrading its network infrastructure in the city of Tampere to be 5G ready with an eye of leveraging its network to support smart city projects.
As it upgrades base stations with 5G-compatible equipment, the goal is a quick commercial deployment. “Readiness means that it will be easy to add the features required by 5G services such as several-fold higher data speeds, shorter latency and functionalities required by the internet of things,” Elisa VP of Mobile Network Services Sami Komulainen said in a statement.
Tampere, a city in Southern Finland with a population of more than 300,000 people, is home to the Smart Tampere project, a multi-faceted program with initiatives related to smart industry, health, government, mobility, infrastructure, buildings and education. According to the group, five “foundational topics” are user experience, analytics, connectivity, sustainability and safety.
“We are thrilled that Elisa is involved in establishing a new type of ecosystem for Tampere through the Smart Tampere program,” program Director Tero Blomqvist said. “In future, the project will bring Tampere residents improved digital services, for example, care services produced at home, services linked to guidance and traffic, and services linked to the real-time adjustment of energy production.”
Elisa joined onto Smart Tampere earlier this year with the first phase of their involvement being the construction of fiber and mobile networks. And, based on an agreement with Huawei, the partners will deploy smart lighting, traffic management and bike sharing.
Earlier this year Elisa worked with compatriot company Nokia to test cloud RAN on its commercial network; the plan is to use C-RAN to manage growing traffic on current networks and aid the transition to 5G. In another test with Nokia, Elisa tested 5G equipment in the 3.5 GHz band and achieved a peak data rate of 1.5 Gbps and latency of 1.5 milliseconds.