The German government is reportedly pushing the nation’s cellular carriers to put more investment into 5G. This comes amid concerns that Europe is lagging behind other parts of the world in building 5G cellular networks and delivering the higher-speed bandwidth and Internet of Things support they can enable.
Staying on the cutting edge of broadband is important, many government officials believe, because whenever and wherever faster and high-performance broadband networks become available, economic benefits can follow. That may include attracting new business. New broadband networks also hold the potential for improving property values by enhancing quality of life.
And the stakes related to 5G networks are especially high given this new technology is not just about more bandwidth. 5G is exciting because it will also support important Internet of Things applications such as connected car and robotic surgery.
Germany’s leading wireline and wireless service provider Deutsche Telekom has already been working on 5G and talking a lot about its potential. And DT and Korea’s SK Telecom (News - Alert) have collaborated to build an intercontinental 5G trial network.
The companies have demonstrated network slicing on that network. Network slicing enables operators to more quickly and easily configure end-to-end connections over 5G links.
DT says it also has achieved latency of just one millisecond over 5G. And it was involved in a commercial test of NarrowBand-IoT with German energy services company ista. That involved smart recording, reporting, and billing of energy consumption. And it’s worked with ZEISS on leveraging 5G networks for augmented reality applications.
The German government hopes to have commercial 5G networks and services in place by 2025. But that won’t come cheap.
DT’s CEO at Mobile World Congress early this year said covering Europe with 5G will have a price tag (News - Alert) of between $342 billion and $570 billion.