As part of Altice Labs’ first anniversary celebrations, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Ericsson to accelerate 5G. This partnership will enable the Altice group to take a leading position in terms of innovation in this area alongside other European partners and put Europe at the forefront of 5G. The commitment in this area is to stimulate joint research and development activities, debates, pilots and demonstrations of equipment and 5G applications.
Within the PT Group, the development of 5G solutions has already a long history and PT Inovação was one of the first research centers to obtain European funding for research in this area. Altice Labs, inheritor of PT Inovação’s legacy, currently participates in four 5G projects financed by Community funds, out of the 19 existing European projects in this area. Now, with this partnership, new development opportunities are opening up, with a focus on virtual software network architectures and convergent optical access systems for 5G networks.
According to Alcino Lavrador, CEO of Altice Labs, “having 5G standardized before 2020 will be very difficult, but the earliest comprehensive demonstrations are likely to occur by then“. Alcino Lavrador also spoke about “the paradigm shift” with 5G, explaining that “it will be the first communications infrastructure, not only between humans, but the one that will support communication between machines allowing a multitude of new applications to use, keeping the resilience and quality that telecommunications networks have accustomed us to“, which will reduce energy consumption, since networks will be self-organized and will be disconnected when not in use, readjusting accordingly and will seek to respond to the exponential increase in traffic.
For Pedro Queiroz, CEO of Ericsson Telecomunicações, Aveiro may even be the first 5G city in Portugal, because the expectation is that in 2020 there will be already the first experiences to equip cities with this technology. Next year, operators are expected to move ahead with operational testing and proof of concept, and, by 2025, Europe’s goal is to have the major cities connected in 5G. “In our view, Aveiro, for all the reasons, could be the embryo for something very big in this collaboration between Ericsson and Altice worldwide” said Ericsson’s chief executive.
For Paulo Neves, Chairman and CEO of PT, “it is a pride to be able to lead the export not only of technology, but also of knowledge, and show that Portugal is an incubator of talent, ambition and strategic vision, recognized nationally and internationally. This cross-border expansion capability is underpinned and powered by Altice’s international footprint for its vision and investment capacity“.
Altice’s CEO, Michel Combes, said: “PT has always been a worldwide reference for its innovation capacity and leading the major trends in telecommunications and technology. Most of these trends and solutions were developed here in Aveiro and this unique spirit is closely linked to Altice’s innovation vision and underlines its ability to provide the best services, best solutions and best technologies in all the markets where we are present“.
The 5G will require large investments for operators, since the network has to evolve to be more efficient, but once applied, the 5G will leverage a series of innovations, giving a breath of fresh air to smart homes, cities and industries, where objects and machines collect information and communicate with each other at high speed.