Swisscom to rollout 5G at the end of 2018

Swisscom is accelerating its timetable for 5G by two years. The company says it now plans to roll out 5G at the end of 2018.

Swisscom confirmed that Ericsson, its network equipment supplier, will deliver the first 5G hardware and software and implement it in the Swisscom mobile network this year.

Switzerland’s first 5G mast will be tested in Ittigen. However, development of an extensive and fully efficient 5G network is dependent on a moderate amendment of regulatory parameters.

In the summer of 2016, Swisscom, Ericsson and EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) launched the "5G for Switzerland" programme to jointly conduct research on the new mobile communication standard. Swisscom has reached a host of 5G test milestones since: in the summer of 2017 Swisscom presented 5G applications like network slicing and speeds of 20 Gbit/s. Swisscom’s industrial partner, Ypsomed, uses 5G applications in the Industry 4.0 sector.