The advent of 5G is certainly good news. As it develops more and more, the technology has the potential to create millions of jobs, facilitate growth, and enable a range of technologies starting from smart appliances on The Internet of Everything (IoE) to autonomous vehicles.
Thus, 5G will improve our lives in the future. According to most predictions, around 20 billion devices would be connected to the internet by 2020.
So, what is 5G? It’s a fifth-generation wireless technology that offers faster speed and more reliable connection on smartphones and other devices than current connections.
The 5G infrastructure market is expected to grow at a swift pace in the coming years. Driving the market are factors such as the proliferation of M2M/IoT connections and growing demand for mobile broadband services.
As per the report by Allied Market Research, the 5G infrastructure market accrued a sum of $371.4 million in 2017 and is likely to reach $58,174.6 million by 2025, thereby growing at a CAGR of 95.8% from 2018 to 2025.
The 5G infrastructure is gradually becoming widespread with companies launching new services, acquiring new companies, and testing the technology on a rigorous basis all over the world.
- For instance, T-Mobile, America’s fastest unlimited network, announced the launch of 5G services in Austria in March 2019.
- In April 2019, Morocco-based telecommunication company inwi announced the launch of the 5th generation telecom network.
- Internet service provider company 5G Networks acquired the Melbourne Data Centre with the aim of expanding its infrastructure and enhance connectivity.
- South Korea’s largest telephone company KT Corporation launched an unlimited 5G data plan with no speed limit.
T-Mobile Launches 5G Services in Austria
The launch of 5G service – a router was introduced by T-Mobile in Austria recently. A1 Telekom Austria, a mobile network operator company chose Nokia for rolling out 5G base stations.
According to Andreas Bierwirth, CEO of T-Mobile Austria, the 5G network will help sustain the performance of the fiber-optic network, distributing it in areas where laying of cables would be difficult and costly.
T-Mobile plans to invest a billion euros between 2018 and 2021 to ensure that Austria has a robust broadband infrastructure. The company did not disclose its pricing plans as well as the number of 5G base stations it set up in the country.
Launch of 5G Telecom Network by inwi
Inwi recently announced that it would soon launch its 5G network commercially in collaboration with Huawei. Prior to the launch, clients can conduct tests on the technology. Eric Liu, Huawei’s vice-president for solution and marketing in North Africa said that Huawei plans to establish pre-commercial 5G base stations.
5G Networks Acquires Melbourne Data Centre
Melbourne Data Centre was purchased by 5G Networks for a sum of $5.7 million. According to the latter, the aim of the deal is to extend its business and enhance the connectivity between its cloud offering and its broadband network.
With the acquisition, the company also intends to save expenditure on the data centre. Joe Demase, managing director at 5G Networks said, “5G Networks can now offer direct and managed access from our own data centre all the way through to cloud and managed network services. We will now explore wholesaling the growing number of infrastructure products we can offer.” The deal is 5G Network’s fourth acquisition since 2017 when it went public.
The company’s first acquisition was Enspire, a business partner of Australia’s leading provider of mobile phones, mobile devices, home phones, and broadband internet. It then purchased Asia Pacific Telecommunications Group (APTel), a company based in Melbourne in March 2018. The third was the acquisition of Inabox’s direct business in August 2018.
KT Corporation Introduces Unlimited 5G Data Plan
KT Corporation unveiled a 5G data plan which provides unlimited data with no speed limit. It dubbed its price plans for 5G as KT 5G Super Plans, which is available in basic, special, and premium packages.
The three packages provide unlimited data on 5G without a speed cap and data roaming in 185 countries. Costing 80,000 won (US$70) every month, the Super Plan Basic is less expensive than its 4G LTE counterpart which is priced at 89,000 won.
The Super Plan Special and Super Plan Premium are priced at 100,000 won and 130,000 won a month, respectively. The subscribers of the Premium plan will be able to avail the benefit of 3Mbps data transfer speeds for roaming.
With the launch, KT aims to be at the forefront of its competitors as people start to make a shift from LTE to 5G. The company also introduced a plan called 5G Slim that is priced at 55,000 won but caps speeds after the usage of 8GB of data.
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