TIM teams with Ericsson for 5G field testing in Turin

Italy's TIM announced that furthering its efforts to implement 5G technology it is starting the first field tests in Turin and will demonstrate the technology in the city on 5G Day at its Open Lab innovation and development centre.

The Torino 5G project, instituted by TIM through an agreement signed in March with the Turin municipal authority, will allow TIM to carry out early trials of 5G technology in a metropolitan environment by the end of 2018 to help accelerate the creation of a next generation mobile network. TIM expects that Turin will become the first city in Italy to have a 5G mobile network.

Under the agreement TIM plans to install, starting in 2017, more than 100 small cells in the main areas of the city, including around the Polytechnic University and University of Turin.

On 5G Day TIM, in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson, will demonstrate for the first time speeds of up to 700 Mbit/s downstream and up to 75 Mbit/s upstream over its live mobile network. TIM plans to launch services offering up to 700 Mbit/s speeds in the coming months, following the upgrade of the 4.5G network that is currently underway in key cities and when suitable smartphones become available. TIM noted that it previously achieved a data rate of 500 Mbit/s on its commercial 4.5G network.

The initiative in Turin is regarded by TIM as an opportunity to define the scenarios and directions and to implement the first 5G trials worldwide. Some of these applications have featured in live demonstrations at TIM's Open Air Lab in collaboration with Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung and SEiKEY.

TIM noted that it is supporting the definition of the requirements for the 5G standards and is working with standardisation groups and consortia and participating in international projects. As part of this effort, in 2016 TIM signed a 5G for Italy agreement with Ericsson.

In March this year, TIM announced that Turin would become the first city in Italy to gain a 5G network, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the municipality of Turin. TIM stated that by 2018 Turin would become the site of its first 5G technology trial in a metropolitan area, with the project will include the gradual extension of the new mobile broadband infrastructure to the municipal urban area, with the aim of covering the entire city by 2020.

At that time, TIM stated the planned trial in Turin will involve up to 3,000 users, who would have access to high transmission speeds, as well as new experimental services and applications provided by the city administration over the 5G network.

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