5G pilot project successfully implemented in Linz – Internal 5G campus networks will connect the companies of the future
Internationally active infrastructure service provider EQOS Energie has successfully installed the first real connected 5G network in Austria. As one of the first providers worldwide, EQOS Energie’s customer Hutchison Drei Austria started 5G operations in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, and presented the first 5G applications in the process. Twenty 5G transmitting stations supply the entire Linz downtown area with record transmission speeds of up to 2.2 Gigabit per second. The 5G network in Linz is the first one in the entire international Drei Group and one of the first 5G networks worldwide.
EQOS Energie CEO Eric Mendel: “Together with our customer Drei, we have performed genuine European pioneering work in Linz. Now we would also like to provide our collective know-how to companies for their own, closed 5G networks to enable them to increase their operational efficiency and simultaneously take Industry 4.0 into the next phase.”
From pre-5G to the first connected 5G network in Austria
For the 5G start of Drei in Linz, EQOS Energie equipped 20 transmission facilities in the city centre with 5G from January to May 2019 and networked them via fibre optics and radio relay upgrades with the necessary bandwidth accordingly. In doing so, EQOS Energie successfully implemented the concept and the planning requirements of Drei – from planning, permitting and construction to technological integration.
EQOS Energie also supports the additional network expansion of its customer Drei. Until the end of the year, Drei will supply the largest part of Linz as well as other regions of Austria with 5G. Prior to the present 5G premiere, Drei and EQOS Energie had already collaborated successfully at the Drei headquarters in Vienna as part of the initial pre-5G rollouts, 5G trials and during the 5G pilot operations.
Market knowledge and experience in communications technology
EQOS Energie also assumed a leading role when it comes to in-house provision in Germany and Austria. Technical expertise and expert implementation are significant for customers and network operators in this area. The gapless supply also forms a good basis for a later expansion to 5G. Initial 5G tests with renowned German industrial customers are already under way. The sale of frequencies for private 5G corporate networks in Germany is planned for autumn of this year. The German Federal Network Agency has reserved one-fifth of all available 5G frequencies for this purpose.
EQOS Energie has been among the leading full-service providers from the very beginning. As an independent partner in German and Austrian mobile communications, the company can look back on more than 25 years of market experience in this area. Since the 2G era, EQOS Energie has constantly expanded and modernised numerous networks in both countries, thereby gaining detailed knowledge of the respective network structures. In Germany alone, EQOS Energie has so far constructed, expanded or refurbished 45,000 base stations, 15,000 radio relay links and more than 1,000 masts.
The service portfolio ranges from planning and all preparatory measures over construction, implementation and project completion to the maintenance of transmission facilities and masts. Companies benefit from the more comprehensive service with fewer interfaces and greater security through better warranties.
Key technology for digital factories and the Internet of Things
5G is considered a revolutionary boost to innovation for digital factories, autonomous vehicle guidance and the Internet of Things (IoT). Based on 5G, digital factories will be able to fully connect computers, machines, vehicles, robots and production lines in the future and be able to control them from anywhere thanks to data transmission in real time and virtual reality solutions.
Internal 5G campus networks without external public access create the necessary data security but can also be connected with partners, service providers or suppliers via external networks. Based on network slicing and mission-critical IoT, all applications are additionally provided with the required response times and transmission rates.
“Whether it’s about networking of robots on production lines, controlling machines or autonomous vehicles at loading stations: 5G provides us with completely new options and will revolutionise the production and logistics industry,” Mendel said. “With the local campus networks set up by us, companies will be optimally supplied even in remote locations.”