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5G and its outlook

5G outlooksThe year 2023 marked a turning point for the industrial 5G market in Europe, with the completion of the basic standardization process and the introduction of the first commercial private network offerings. This has enabled a shift from often publicly funded projects to private sector-led initiatives, highlighting a growing interest of businesses in capitalizing on the potential of this new technology.

Growing adoption and investment in Europe

According to data from the 5G & Beyond Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, there are now 117 5G-related industrial projects in Europe, more than half of which have been launched in the last two years. Italy has not been left behind, with 7 new projects in 2023, demonstrating a growing interest in our country to exploit the opportunities offered by 5G technology.

The European 5G market is expected to reach a value of EUR 1.72 billion by 2026, with Italy contributing 10% of this value. However, this number could vary significantly depending on various factors, including public support, the supply of solutions and services, and the confidence and commitment of the private sector.

Challenges and opportunities on the path to digitalization

5G is emerging as a key platform for the digitalization of business processes and support for new automation, since companies, primarily manufacturing and logistics, are beginning to realize its potential.

Of course, there are still challenges ahead: the development of public networks is proceeding at a slower rate than expected. It is crucial that the Italian economic environment favours investments in digitalization and that the TLC sector structures an offer adapted to the needs of the national market, starting from infrastructures and extending to applications.

Benefits of 5G technology

5G technology offers a number of significant advantages for industrial networks, despite the remaining challenges. Compared to wireless alternatives such as WiFi or LoRaWAN, 5G is characterised by its greater reliability, data confidentiality, and superior performance, particularly evident in environments with limited geographical coverage.

5G networks provide unprecedented reliability and business continuity and ultra-high-speed, ultra-low latency communication, with the possibility of dedicating ‘portions’ of the network to specific applications or contexts (adopting so-called ‘slicing’). 5G networks also enable the deployment of advanced solutions both in virtualised mode and on cloud technologies, with the ability to operate effectively in environments densely populated by simultaneously active devices. For example, for applications requiring high reliability and global coverage, such as industrial automation or connected vehicles, 5G emerges as the preferred choice.

5G technologies are designed to be more energy efficient than their previous counterparts, which can lead to lower battery consumption for mobile devices and better power management in the network.

Thanks to 5G’s superior performance, users can enjoy a smoother and higher quality online experience, with less buffering during video streaming, faster downloads and more reliable connections.

In general, 5G proves to be the most suitable technology for all applications operating in extended industrial environments, such as ports or manufacturing sites, where wired connectivity is impractical and other wireless solutions are inefficient. The use of 5G combined with TSN (Time Sensitive Network) technology to enable the wireless factory is very promising.

Italtel: accelerator of digital change

In this context, Italtel presents itself as a reliable partner for innovation and digital transformation. By offering integrated solutions and advisory, design and system integration services on 5G networks, and a vast catalogue of ad-hoc applications for private 5G networks, we accelerate the return on investment, ensuring integration into the customer’s internal processes and back-end business systems.

The future of industrial 5G has already begun, and compared to a cautious start, there are now signs of a clear acceleration that will necessarily have to leverage the support of partners such as Italtel who, operating on the dual track of networks and the digital ecosystem they enable, will be called upon to play a central role in bringing this opportunity to market.

KEYWORDS

5G

Osservatorio5G&Beyond

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