The 5G networks used locally for even very small territorial areas will be able to integrate and complete the 5G revolution initiated with the assignment of national frequencies to the large telecommunications operators. Introducing specific frequencies to be allocated to private networks at local level is a challenge that Italy must be able to meet in order to reap the benefits and positive externalities that the new wave of innovation centred on 5G is spreading globally.
The meeting – here is the program – continues the activity of public reflection on the web dedicated by Fondazione Bordoni to researchers, ICT professionals in the public and private sectors, public administration officials and digital technology enthusiasts started last year with the Fubinar format (here are the previous meetings: www.fub.it/seminari-fub/). The Fubinar on local networks and 5G will be an opportunity to explore this topic with international experts, representatives of Italian and European institutions and research and industry specialists.
In the 5G scenario, the needs of the service define the specific physical networks that enhance its quality; dedicated, flexible and intelligent networks built around the service and integrated with the physical objects that make it possible. In the scenario focused on local networks, the development starts from the bottom, bottom up, together with the implementation of local 5G networks that are managed by service providers, are secure and “armoured”. These are networks where data and information on processes are protected from outside access and are open to sharing in a controlled and protected manner.
5G local networks, dedicated to new services, integrated in the industrial, agricultural and service production cycle, are already in an advanced testing phase in the world and in Europe. In Germany, in the port of Hamburg and in Bosch’s 4.0 manufacturing plant in Dresden, as well as in numerous other industrial and logistics sites, universities and polytechnics.
The German regulator BNetzA has reserved 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3700MHz-3800MHz band (out of a total of 400 MHz put out to tender) for private companies, with over 80 companies signing up to date. Similar institutional initiatives to encourage local access to the spectrum are under way in France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong.