Telefonica has announced plans to launch 5G trials in two Spanish cities ahead of the activation of the first commercial networks in 2020. In a presentation at its Madrid headquarters, the operator said it will partner with Nokia and Ericsson to convert the cities of Segovia and Talavera de la Reina, with populations of 53,000 and 83,000 respectively, into 5G living laboratories over the next three years. Under the ‘5G Technological Cities’ project, the deployment of 5G infrastructure will go hand in hand with the development of use cases, giving local inhabitants and companies early access to the advantages of the new technology.
Above all, the new network will serve to boost mobile broadband speeds to peaks of 10 Gbps, while reducing latency to between 1 and 5 milliseconds and increasing the number of connected devices by up to 100 times. The 5G capabilities will initially require the support of the company’s existing 4G network but will eventually become a standalone 5G network, said Telefonica, which is the first Spanish operator to announce pre-commercial city trials.
Concept tests based on the new network will include trials carried out with car maker Seat and automotive technology specialist Ficosa on connected vehicle applications designed to improve safety and traffic management.
Additional pilots will focus on areas such as tourist services incorporating virtual and augmented reality, the automation and digitisation of industrial processes, the massification of the Internet of Things, fixed radio access in rural environments, remote management of critical processes, telemedicine, mobile gaming and remote control of drones.
