Siemens has appointed Germany-based system integrator LS Telecom (stylised ‘LS telecom’) to distribute its private 5G system as part of a full consultancy and management offer for industrial enterprises in global markets. The news is significant, partly, because Siemens has only sold its private 5G system in its home market, until now. That remains the case, Siemens confirmed, but the message from LS Telecom called it is a “truly global commitment”, which does not limit it to “a certain market” – which implies Siemens is readying a wider spectrum support and a broader geographical push for its private 5G product.
LS Telecom said it will offer consultancy and design services, including use case / application development, plus licensing, planning, and deployment. Together, the two companies will “jointly provide [5G] for a wide range of applications and cross-sector solutions”, they said. LS Telcom is a specialist telecoms systems and services integrator, offering regulatory management and spectrum access, notably in the fields of critical and private network systems. It serves the public safety, public railways and transport, ports and airports, oil and gas, utilities, defence and security, healthcare, and broadcast sectors. It also works with mobile operators.
The company has parallel private-5G deals with Nokia and Druid Software. It serves customers in 100 countries from offices across Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Oceania.
The Siemens-made private 5G product was designed originally for the 3.7-3.8 GHz band in Germany. It has remained the plan, from the start, for the firm to provide phased global support for other private-5G bands. Speculatively, the news from LS Telecom (and Siemens) suggests the system is being readied for the higher 3.8-4.2 GHz band in Europe, probably, and possibly the lower 3.55-3.7 GHz CBRS band in the US – through 2024 and 2025.
In a brief exchange with RCR Wireless, LS Telecom noted Siemens’ industrial heritage, versus other private 5G providers. A press note also highlighted that Siemens’ system enables users to “independently operate a self-sufficient” private 5G network of their own. The sense is that the Siemens version is made to be more simple and intuitive for both operational technology (OT) managers, on factory floors, and for IT departments, up in the gods.
Roland Götz, chief operating officer at LS telcom, said: “We are very pleased to announce our partnership with Siemens to provide our customers with a 5G infrastructure developed and produced in Germany for network independent industrial applications. We greatly appreciate working with such an experienced and renowned partner as Siemens. We are convinced that this cooperation will offer our customers considerable added value and future-oriented solutions.”
Daniel Mai, director of industrial wireless communications at Siemens, said: “With LS telcom, we have a very experienced partner in the field of private mobile networks at our side to offer our customers future-proof private 5G solutions. LS telcom brings extensive expertise to deliver real added value to industrial customers through consulting, services, and integration.”
