“Companies will need 5G in the future to continue running their business.”

With the auctioning of 5G frequency blocks in full swing, the major Dutch providers have started to activate the first 5G networks. Including VodafoneZiggo. During the digital edition of the Telecom Infra event In his webinar, Jan-Willem de Beaufort, strategy manager at VodafoneZiggo, provides insight into the most important innovations of 5G and the possibilities of this new technology for companies and society as a whole.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

During his presentation, De Beaufort discusses, among other things, the economies of scale that 5G can offer. In this way, technology can play a key role business critical services. Consider, for example, future self-driving cars that communicate extremely reliably with mobile networks, which also requires a very short response time. Another frequently mentioned advantage of 5G is the possibility of setting up large numbers of internet-of-things connections.

VodafoneZiggo has now started to send 5G data streams over existing 4G frequencies. In this way, both technologies can be combined on the existing spectrum, with the provider working together with Ericsson. Even more frequencies will be added in the coming years, with the 3.5GHz likely to be auctioned in 2022 being the most important for the higher throughput speeds that are planned. However, this requires a much more fine-grained network.

De Beaufort also discusses concrete application areas where 5G can already play a role. “Think of payment terminals at large events, emergency services or push-to-talk services. You can also think about applications in industry. In Australia, for example, excavators are already controlled remotely, but robotic applications within factories are also suitable for this.”

Mobile private networks
To ensure that these industrial applications function reliably, 5G mobile offers private networks. De Beaufort mentions, among other things, a business case from car manufacturer e.GO, which is using 5G technology from Vodafone Deutschland and Ericsson to install compact electric vehicles in its factory in Aachen. builds cars. De Beaufort emphasizes that companies must first have the basics in place in the field of connectivity and security in order. The subject of private 5G networks will be discussed in more detail during the Telecom Infra event, including in a panel discussion.

VodafoneZiggo is also involved in pilot projects in the Netherlands. Experiments are being conducted in the Groningen area, among other things 5Groningen and the 5G Hub at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. The provider also used live streams via a 5G private network during the major IBC 2020 trade fair.

In the medium future, there are also opportunities for edge computing, where computing power is concentrated at the edge of the network. However, De Beaufort believes that there will not be much movement for such applications in the Netherlands in the coming years until the 3.5GHz spectrum becomes available.

After all, De Beaufort hopes that visitors will remember after watching his presentation that 5G is not only very necessary to meet the need for more data, but that many new applications are possible. “More and more companies will need 5G in the future to continue running their business.”

Would you like to attend the webinar 'From 5G promise to practice'? Register free of charge via the Telecom Infra event website.