Manufacturing, energy and transport among 5G focuses
French telecommunications group Orange is currently working with a number of compatriot businesses to develop future uses of 5G technology.
The announcement was made at the Orange Business Summit, taking place this week in Paris, France.
“5G will not be just another new development in mobile uses. This is a technological leap that announces a significant transformation of business models for all companies and in all sectors of activity. To take advantage of the opportunities available, companies must anticipate their application cases without delay, and we, operators, must be fully mobilized to support them and develop solutions that meet their needs,” said Stéphane Richard, chairman & CEO of the Orange Group.
“This future network is an opportunity to unite and consolidate all our resources, our know-how, our advanced industries, our French Tech and our talents at the service of our country,”
At the summit, the European carrier announced several joint innovation projects with companies operating in key sectors such as the manufacturing industry, energy and transport.
The telco is working with hi-tech manufacturer Lacroix Group to explore how 5G can be used within “Symbiose”, the prototype factory project from the Lacroix Group. These trials will involve setting up an indoor network to test ambient connectivity on the industrial site or optimizing production using automated vehicles and other vehicles connected through 5G.
Also, Schneider Electric and Orange are working together to evaluate the feasibility of opportunities brought by 5G in industrial production processes. From the end of 2019, an initial test will assess the value of 5G for real-time augmented reality solutions used by maintenance technicians at the Schneider Electric factory in Vaudreuil.
Renault, Orange and Ericsson have also announced their intention to work together on connected vehicles and 5G. This cooperation project will aim to measure the capacity of 5G to enrich communications between vehicles and their environment.
Performance tests are planned on a system based on a hybrid V2X (vehicle to anything) architecture, including network slicing and Mobile Edge Computing technologies to improve cloud performance.
Orange also confirmed that it is working in partnership with state railways operator SNCF and Nokia within the framework of a 5G experiment to provide a high-speed, HD video download service for passengers at the Rennes train station. Orange will launch the service in 2020 once the French regulator Arcep has delivered the required authorization. Once operational, passengers travelling through the station will be able to connect to the 5G access point deployed there.
Also, Paris’ public transport operator RATP and Orange will launch a 5G experiment for autonomous and connected public transport vehicles in the Paris region during 2019.
Orange Group had previously said it aims to launch 5G technology in 17 major European cities across Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Spain during 2019.
The telco said that these initial launches will pave the way for the company’s full-scale commercial launch of this technology, which is scheduled to take place during 2020.
