Marketing, frequencies, verticals… Where is the development of 5G in the European Union?

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5G must be activated in at least two cities in each country of the European Union by the end of 2020, according to the rules set by the Commission. Chosen to enlighten the executive on the deployment of the new mobile standard in Europe (pre-Brexit), the consultancy Idate DigiWorld publishes an observatory updated every quarter. Here are some of his teachings.

1 / COMMERCIAL LAUNCHES

As of December 31, 2019, ten countries of the European Union had commercial 5G networks. If Finland and Austria were the most reactive countries, having launched offers even before the summer of 2019, the most competitive markets today are the United Kingdom andGermany, where at least three telecom operators have positioned themselves – a maturity comparable to United States and at the China. "Under the impetus of the American and South Korean players in the sector, followed by the major equipment manufacturers, there has been an acceleration of six months on the calendar of commercial launches", highlighted Frédéric Pujol, Head of Technology and Radio activities at Idate DigiWorld, which also points to the general impatience of consumers – in China, some 8 million people had subscribed to a 5G plan before the first network was even launched.

2 / ALLOCATION OF FREQUENCY BANDS

The potential of 5G can only be fully expressed with the exploitation of 26 GHz band – those of the so-called "millimeter" waves -, but the European states have not allocated it, except for theItaly. "There is no real demand for use cases yet ", justifies Frédéric Pujol, recalling that France has authorized some experimental platforms. 80% of the other frequency bands will, however, be reserved by the end of 2020 – compared to only 16.5% as of December 31, 2019. Telecoms operators now have access to 700 MHz bands – indicated for IoT uses – and 3.5 GHz. "A good balance between range and bandwidth."

3 / OPERATING SECTORS

All frequency bands combined, these are more than 180 life-size tests that have taken place in Europe since the start of the 5G experiments. As a reminder, in France, Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR accelerated during the second half of 2019, accumulating a total of 382 sites. Industrial applications and autonomous mobility led the use cases tested. This phase also allowed them to get up to speed on connectivity issues.

These sectors are, moreover, those which have been the most widely tested on a community scale … just after entertainment. Health, transport (especially maritime), industry 4.0 and the smart city are also among the main areas of work. "You have to keep in mind that the terminals compatible with 5G will be more and more varied. It is no longer just a question of smartphones, but also of drones and vending machines", comments Frédéric Pujol.

IN 2025, 1.7 BILLION OBJECTS WILL BE smart health connected

5G will be particularly useful for connecting objects. As such, Idate DigiWorld has made a series of estimates as to the state of this market in 2025. Thus, according to the firm, 1.7 billion devices should be smart health connected in the world by this deadline. "The increase is constant, with around 40% more objects each year since 2018. Basic devices, such as electric or water meters, will represent 891 million objects. The logistics sector will be in second place of the podium, with 450 million objects. These two categories will represent, in five years, 80% of the IoT market alone ", says Samuel Ropert, head of Smart Vertical activities at Idate DigiWorld. Use cases in agriculture or security will grow.

Several standards compete for the IOT

The advent of 5G should not completely overshadow other technological standards designed for IoT. The rate of adoption of Sigfox and LoRa – like the 23 other standards not licensed by the 3GPP organization – should continue to increase. "If these standards have the advantage of being compatible with all verticals in all geographic areas and offering good performance, they are not immune to interference since they are not standardized", points Samuel Ropert.

The NB-IoT and LTE-M standards are well licensed by 3GPP. Perceived as reassuring by industry, their coverage should increase significantly by 2025. "Standardized, they can be used by a multitude of suppliers and generate economies of scale", judges the expert. The NB-IoT, in particular, should even explode – the price of the modules and the energy efficiency would make it the best compromise. "Sigfox may not have said its last word, however, thanks to its partnership with Eutelsat to deploy a constellation of nano-satellites to connect the IoT."

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