Japanese tech giant Fujitsu announced that it has received Japan’s first private 5G radio station provisional license from the Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications.
As a next step, Fujitsu said it will establish a radio station emitting private 5G radio waves in order to verify private 5G network systems at its Shin-Kawasaki Technology Square office in Kawasaki, Japan.
In the coming months, Fujitsu will also move to open a Fujitsu Collaboration Lab, which will serve as a dedicated co-creation space for collaborating with customers and partners to workshop and verify use cases utilizing private 5G.
Moving forward, Fujitsu said it would also continue to apply for private 5G licenses for its other office locations, plants, and group companies in Japan, offering support for customers in various industries to achieve their own digital transformation projects.
The introduction of private 5G will allows companies and local governments to operate their own private networks. Fujitsu highlighted that private 5G network technology promises to unlock numerous business applications in a variety of industries, such as accelerating the deployment of IoT in manufacturing.
However, the Japanese company noted that the introduction of private 5G requires specialized knowledge in the construction and operation of advanced networks as well as preparing appropriate test environments. To overcome these challenges, Fujitsu said it will draw on its experience in developing solutions for private 5G networks to conduct technical verification and use case verification of new solutions with this technology together with its customers, with the aim of promoting the optimal use of 5G in real-world business contexts.
“Obtaining this qualification marks an exciting and important milestone in the development of our 5G capabilities in Japan. We’re looking forward to the chance to work together with our customers and partners to leverage private 5G network technologies to solve business challenges across a wide range of industries and use case scenarios going forward,” said Shingo Mizuno, corporate executive officer SVP and vice head of service platform business group at Fujitsu.
Fujitsu said that the license is for the 28.2 GHz to 28.3 GHz range.
In December 2019, Japan’s communications ministry started to accept applications for the deployment of local 5G networks.
Companies, local governments and universities were expected to apply to use the new spectrum, according to previous reports.
This will enable enterprises, regional authorities and other organizations in Japan to deploy the next-generation wireless connectivity based on LTE and 5G technologies to create local private networks.
The so-called local 5G networks would be limited in area, and will use different frequencies from those used by mobile operators.
Japanese firm NEC has unveiled a plan to provide local 5G services, while Toshiba was also considering local 5G services, according to previous reports.
In November 2019, Nokia said that it is building out its strategic partnership ecosystem to bring local 5G/private wireless LTE to industrial and government customers in Japan.
Nokia has built a partnership eco-system with five companies spanning multiple segments, including NS Solutions for factory IoT, Marubeni for global IoT, Internet Initiative Japan for Full MVNO, Equinix for multi-cloud and global data centers, and Hitachi Kokusai Electric for smart social infrastructure and smart cities with video solutions.
