Belgian operator Telenet said it will start the gradual deployment of its 5G network in the country on December 6, the carrier said in a release.
Telenet, which is controlled by U.S. company Liberty Global, said that the first 5G zones will be located around Leuven, Antwerp and the coast. In the course of 2022, the 5G network will be significantly expanded to the major Flemish cities.
The Belgian telco said that the 5G network is expected to reach nationwide coverage by 2025. In March 2021, Telenet had selected Ericsson, Nokia and Google Cloud as its 5G network suppliers. Ericsson will provide the Radio Access Network and Nokia the core network, while certain core functions will be developed with Google Cloud.
Customers with a 5G smartphone and a One, OneUp, Klik and King or Kong business subscription will be the first to experience the benefits of this new technology. The other mobile products of Telenet, Telenet Business and Base will follow in the spring of 2022.
For the initial 5G rollout, Telenet is using the provisional spectrum license granted by the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) in 2020. The telco is currently using frequencies in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band, which have a shorter range and is particularly suitable for increasing the capacity of the mobile network in specific places.
Telenet said that the telco is expecting the Belgian government to award additional 5G spectrum for the full rollout of its 5G network nationwide. The spectrum auction is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2022.
Micha Berger, CTO at Telenet, said: “5G is a technology that we must fully embrace today. Through 5G we can make our society hyper-connected, which will lead to the creation of many new applications that may provide an answer to today’s problems. Going back in time we recall how 3G allowed us to easily download pictures on our smartphone while on the road, and how 4G enabled us to stream and watch a series of YouTube videos or a series without any problem. With 5G, all that will be possible even faster. The stability and responsiveness of 5G will be particularly noticeable in applications that require an immediate response or razor-sharp images, such as healthcare robotics, self-driving cars, autonomous drones, security cameras or virtual reality. We have already carried out various tests with cities and companies. Now we also want to gradually let our customers experience the possibilities of 5G.”
Telenet also said that it will launch its 5G offering to larger business customers such as hospitals, governments, schools or logistics firms in the spring of 2022.
Telenet provides cable TV, broadband, fixed and mobile telephone services, primarily to residential customers in Flanders and Brussels.
Rival operator Proximus was the first telco to launch 5G services in Belgium. At the end of 2020, Proximus’ 5G network was available at 138 sites in 69 cities and municipalities, mainly in Flanders.
Proximus uses existing radio frequencies in the 2.1 GHz band and has a temporary permit to use radio frequencies in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band.
