Telenor talks up healthcare, fishing in 5G demo

5G

Telenor Group has completed its first trial of 5G technology, using the E-band and multi-user MIMO to hit peak speeds of 70GBps, and discussed how it could improve the health and fishing industries.

The operator worked with Huawei on the trial, which was held in Norway this month. Both telcos have set up a Joint Innovation Centre in the country and are planning to work on how the industry can transition from LTE to 5G.

Huawei said the E-band, which sits at 71-76GHz and 81-86GHz, can enhance the wider mobile broadband experience.

Group CEO Sigve Brekke said: “5G will form the foundations of all digital communication and is a flexible toolbox for the digitalisation of society. Norway is an important testing laboratory for the success of new technology, and today’s test means we have taken an important step towards building the digital future of the countries in which Telenor operates.”

During the demo, Telenor discussed how network slicing could help enable robots to conduct surgery and diagnose health conditions.

Fishing could be transformed, the operator claimed, thanks to advanced sensors and image analysis that could track poor quality fish.

Berit Svendsen, EVP of Telenor’s Scandinavia Cluster, said: “So far, 5G is nowhere near standardised – we are only in the early stages. The fact that we are already able to demonstrate 5G is therefore absolutely fantastic. The entire mobile world is pushing ahead to get standards in place under the auspices of the 3GPP organisation and Telenor.”