Italian government looks to raise $2.7 billion from the sale of 5G spectrum.
The Italian government confirmed plans to offer spectrum covering five cities to enable local telecommunication operators and other entities to conduct “5G” technology trials. The government said the spectrum in the 3.4 GHz to 3.8 GHz bands would be made available in parts of Milan, Prato, L’Aquila, Bari and Matera.
The Italia authorities said mobile operators, universities and research groups will be able to conduct trials in areas including Milan’s underground rail network and earthquake reconstruction zones in L’Aquila. The Italian government said that eventually expects to raise 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) from the sale of 5G frequencies.
The European Union has called on member states to have identified at least one city for 5G testing by 2018, with a network in place by 2020.
Telecom Italia recently signed a deal with the Municipality of Turin for the deployment of 5G technologies in the city. The telco said Turin will become the first Italian city and one of the first in Europe to have a next-generation mobile network.
Bouygues Telecom and Ericsson carry out 5G trial
French telecom operator Bouygues Telecom said it carried out 5G technology trials with vendor partner Ericsson.
The trial, which was carried out at the operator’s facility in the Ile-de-France region, used a radio station equipped with active 5G antennas connected to a pair of prototype mobile devices. The test is said to have achieved aggregated data rate of 25.2 gigabits per second with a latency of three milliseconds.
Technology used in the demonstration included adaptive beamforming, which when used with massive multiple-input/multiple-output antenna systems to increase the capacity of mobile networks and the range of wireless signals, Bouygues Telecom said.
