The Italian telco is also showcasing smart factory capabilities through a previous collaboration with Ericsson
BARCELONA- Italian mobile operator TIM and Qualcomm Technologies have signed an innovation and business cooperation agreement in several initiatives such as 5G and digital transformation in Italy and Brazil.
With the new cooperation agreement, Qualcomm Technologies and TIM aim to share a strategic vision on business development and advanced services enabled by new technologies, specifically 5G, and testing innovative solutions to speed up commercial rollout.
Under the terms of the deal, which was announced during the Mobile World Congress, the two firms will focus on use cases for advanced mobile services as well as innovative services based on advanced analytics leveraging increased data from 5G enabled devices, networks, applications and services.
The cooperation agreement will also focus on innovative products both for mobile and fixed services, the partners said.
“Qualcomm Technologies has had a long-standing relationship with TIM and we are pleased to have signed this agreement which will accelerate the deployment of 5G NR. Qualcomm Technologies plans to supply mobile test devices, based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem, for both sub-6 GHz and mmW elements of the 5G NR trial as well as working with TIM on a broad range of innovative deployments including LTE-A, IoT LTE and Wi-Fi,” said Cristiano Amon, President, Qualcomm Incorporated.
TIM and Qualcomm Technologies also confirmed plans to launch a 5G trial in the second half of 2018.
Also, during the telecommunications event taking place in Barcelona, TIM and Chinese vendor Huawei have signed a cooperation agreement in the internet of things (IoT) field.
The main aim of the partnership is to explore solutions and business models based on the IoT vertical sectors, including smart metering, Industry 4.0, smart cities and smart agriculture.
The initial step of this new partnership between TIM and Huawei was de establishment of an experience center in Italy to develop and test IoT solutions.
Under the new deal, the two companies will share experiences and develop joint recommendations to accelerate commercialization in specific vertical IoT industries and jointly define successful IoT use cases and design related business models.
“TIM is fully committed to satisfying the most advanced and sophisticated customer needs, providing the most helpful and exciting customer experience by means of a perfect mix of advanced services and forerunning solutions. The agreement signed today with Huawei confirm our commitment and will contribute to our objective of becoming a best practice in the IoT business”, said Amos Genish, TIM CEO.
TIM, together with Ericsson is also showcasing smart manufacturing capabilities at the Mobile World Congress. Ericsson, TIM and Comau had signed a collaboration in 2017 and have been working on a proof of concept of a smart factory.
Through the combination of TIM and Ericsson’s expertise in 5G networks and technologies and Comau’s automated manufacturing solutions, the smart manufacturing collaboration aims to prove the benefits of advanced solutions adoption for industrial automation.
‘’Nowadays all industries are experiencing a deep ICT-driven transformation. Our strategy aims to make 4.0 Industry a reality in Italy, and this collaboration with Ericsson and Comau is an important milestone to prove how digital and industrial plants can leverage on the potential of 5G,” said TIM’s chief strategy officer Mario Di Mauro.
