The 5G follow its deployment in Spain, after closing this summer the third frequency auction since 2018 with the tender for the 700 MHz band for which the Government raised 1,010 million euros, and is currently the country of the European Union which has the highest volume of pilot projects underway: about 120, according to the employers’ association DigitalES. This study recalled that the 5G standard – still a part of the 5G deployed depends on the existing 4G infrastructure – allows managing between 10,000 and 1,000,000 connected sensors per square kilometer. Along these lines, the main operators are announcing the first specific services for companies and individuals. Telefónica advertisement
recently that from January it will commercialize a solution for robots based on autonomous vehicles for industrial use (AGVs). In this way, the robots will be able to connect through a platform and perform tasks without human intervention.
Other solutions that will be marketed from 2022 are aimed at the management and driving of drones, and the ‘5G remote assistance’. The latter aimed at sectors such as logistics and health. Specifically, technicians in these fields will be able to count on remote help from experts in real time, through a monitoring application.
Another recent case is Vodafone’s commitment to immersive experiences, in which an individual can enjoy concerts, trips and other activities with their friends. All this through a smartphone with Augmented Reality glasses. A solution called ‘Vodafone 5G Reality’, which will open to the public in the first half of 2022, and which the operator has developed in Spain together with Optiva Media and Virtual Voyagers. It is about the adaptation of the concept of ‘metaverse’ popularized by Mark Zuckerberg.
In any case, the four main operators in the Spanish market (Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange and Másmóvil) already offer 5G connectivity for companies and individuals, although it still does not reach all corners of the country. In any case, the rates are the same as with 4G. For Esic professor and CEO of Nektiu Alberto de Torres, believes that 5G “still has a lot of development to do” De Torres estimates that with the right investments – through European funds – “by 2023 5G can be a business reality.”
Leaders in use cases
At the moment, the effort of the operators in Spain is focused on the dozens of pilots, Telefónica It has 80 pilots in different sectors such as tourism with augmented reality and transport (inspection of roads through drones). and Vodafone is also rolling out dozens of use cases throughout Spain. Among the most recent, those carried out together with Adif on the María Zambrano Station in Malaga (biometric access, wifi improvement, digital registration of personnel …)
For its part, Orange whose network 5G It already reaches 778 municipalities in 38 provinces (including Ceuta and Melilla) and 51.2% of the population works in around thirty cases in Valencia, Galicia and the Basque Country in the hands of the 5G National Plan (enriched tourism, facial recognition, robotics for cancer diagnosis, ‘smart Agriculture’ …), as well as with 5G autonomous robots in Barcelona and synchronization of musicians in Madrid, among others.
For its part, Másmovil whose 5G already covers almost 700 municipalities in 40 provinces is working on pilots in Catalonia (Education, Industry 4.0) and Basque Country (Mobility, Energy, Cybersecurity). In addition to several projects such as autonomous driving that will be carried out in 2022-2023 in the Renault factory in Palencia.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism