Telecom Italia (TIM) has announced the launch of commercial 5G services in Naples, the third city to receive the technology following last month’s activation in parts of Turin and Rome, and revealed that it’s targeting a total of 120 cities and 200 tourist destinations by 2021. In a statement, TIM said the 5G network offering initial speeds of up to 2 Gbps will go live another 6 major cities (Milan, Bologna, Verona, Florence, Matera and Bari) by the end of 2019. It also plans to cover 30 tourist destinations throughout Italy, 50 industrial districts and complete 30 dedicated 5G projects for large companies by December.
Top speeds will gradually increase to a potential 10 Gbps by 2021, by which time 245 industrial districts and 200 large companies as well as around 22 percent of the population will be covered thanks in part to the use of FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) technology. The operator also announced that 5G roaming will be available to its customers in six countries this month, starting with Austria, the UK and Switzerland, followed by Spain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates by the end of July.
TIM will be rolling out a new institutional commercial in the coming weeks to promote its first 5G plans using “suggestive and exciting images to demonstrate how the technology can help improve life, break down distances and offer new opportunities.” The TIM Advance plans were launched last month and range from unlimited calls and SMS plus 50GB of 5G data at speeds of up to 2 Gbps for EUR 29.99 a month (TIM Advance 5G) to unlimited calls and SMS plus 100GB of data at speeds of up to 2 Gbps, as well as free access to the TIMgames video game platform and extra EU, US and Canada roaming for EUR 49.99 a month (TIM Advance 5G Top).
All plans also offer the possibility of acquiring the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G or Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G smartphones in monthly instalments, with the Oppo Reno 5G to follow shortly.
