MAJOR OPERATORS, THE METAVERSE AND SUSTAINABLE 5G, HOT TOPICS OF THE THIRD DAY OF THE ‘5G FORUM 2023’

• Presentations from Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone focused on current topics such as Metaverse, StandAlone, Millimetrics and Open RAN.

• Capgemini focused on Network Slicing: “An on-demand business model that delivers quality of experience and information in real time,” according to Shamik Mishra, Vice President CTO, Connectivity.

• ZTE has provided solutions to reduce the carbon footprint: “It is essential to use green materials and energy,” says Victor Pascual, CTO Spain and Portugal.

After the success of the first two face-to-face sessions at the Seville Convention and Exhibition Center (FIBES), the ‘5G Forum 23’ inaugurated the virtual format today, which will continue until Friday, May 12. On this third day of the event, some of the main multinationals related to the world of technology have participated. Orange, Telefónica, Vodafone, Capgemini, ZTE, Hispasat, Nokia, Gsertel and Axión have been the protagonists.

Orange and the Metaverse

Angélica Sánchez, Business & Marketing Director; Miguel Ángel Almonacid, Network Strategy Director; and Rafael Pérez Gutiérrez, Products, Services, Devices & Strategic Partnership Director, all from Orange Spain, spoke about the Metaverse.

As explained by Angélica Sánchez, “Immersive now is a platform developed by Orange that allows both customers and non-customers to offer them three major experiential areas with which to take steps in this new world”. It is worth noting that Orange was the first operator to open a commercial store in the Metaverse.

For Rafael Pérez, the Metaverse “is perpetual and persistent, and consists of the fusion of a physical and a virtual reality, with immersive experiences that make us think and feel that we are inside a virtual world”. For Miguel Ángel Almonacid “5G is the basis for communications in the Metaverse and guarantees its evolution”.

Telefónica, the Standalone and Millimetrics

Juan Cambeiro, Head of 5G Innovation, spoke about the future of 5G: the StandAlone and millimeters. He states that “we have more than 2000 sites with 3500 MHz and more than 2000 municipalities covered with 700 MHz”. Regarding 5G StandAlone, “more reliability and predictability has been achieved”, although he considers that “it is still not enough, being necessary predictable communications”.

“Telefónica is the only Spanish operator to have obtained a full 1GHz of spectrum in the 26GHz tender,” Cambeiro assures.

Vodafone, the Open RAN and innovation beyond 5G

Fini Irles, Head of Network Engineering Spain and Head of Data Core Network and Irene Velasco, Senior Open RAN Engineer at Vodafone, were the two protagonists of the British company in this day of the 5G Forum.

Fini Irles said that “at Vodafone, innovation is in our DNA”. Therefore, “now we are once again being disruptive, seeking technological solutions to problems in order to reach rural and remote environments”. One of the main innovations was AST Space Mobile, “the first and only space-based mobile broadband network, which will be able to provide coverage everywhere”.

On the other hand, Irene Velasco analyzed the Open RAN, “a revolution to launch 5G networks”. The goal is to make a “5G world accessible to everyone and to make it cheaper and greener“.

Capgemini and Network Slicing

Luis Manuel Díaz de Terán, Director of Telecommunications and Services; Shamik Mishra, Vice President CTO, Connectivity at Capgemini; and Cayetano Carbajo, Director for Core, Transport and Service Platforms, GCTIO at Telefónica, talked about the concept of Network Slicing and new revenue models.

Cayetano Carbajo affirms that Network Slicing is a very interesting concept, since “we are interested in the possibility of segmenting services and providing them with the performance they need, so we are very interested in it and the sooner the better”.

For Shamik Mishra, “Network Slicing is an on-demand business model that offers quality of experience, location, congestion control and information obtained in real time from the network itself”. Luis Manuel Díaz de Terán, for his part, considers that “AI is very important in terms of scalability and automation”.

ZTE, carbon footprint and 5G private networks

On behalf of the Asian company ZTE, Víctor Pascual, CTO in Spain and Portugal, placed special emphasis on the carbon footprint. He pointed out that “in order to reduce it, it is essential to use green materials and energy”. Among the solutions provided by ZTE are “the reduction of watts or the use of renewable energies”.

In addition, Pascual talked about the fact that some companies or factories will make the move to private 5G networks. Those that do so will benefit from “efficiency in processes”, although each company will have “different needs, for example, in terms of security, they will feel more comfortable with isolated networks”. In short, private networks “allow you that ubiquity, that is, having the private part and at the same time, when you are going out to the public network, being able to have even the same experience as when you are under your own coverage”.

Nokia and Spanish companies that are benchmarks in 5G

On the other hand, Jaime Ruiz Alonso, Innovation Manager at Nokia, focused on tools for application developers in 5G and B5G networks and on Network as Code. This concept “seeks to enhance digital services by facilitating their integration into use cases”.

Hispasat, Gsertel and Axion, Spanish companies, also participated in this conference. Regarding Hispasat, José Luis Serrano, Innovation and Product Strategy Manager, has talked about the satellite in 5G. “We are working on the development and integration of the satellite in those terrestrial networks to improve connectivity”. The focus in Hispasat’s deployment is mainly “in rural, remote areas”.

On behalf of Gsertel, Maura Outeiral, 5G Technical Product Manager, spoke about 5G testing, in addition to presenting the adaptation of the portable 5G analyzer of this Televés group company. “Gsertel offers this analyzer, which is easy to manage and can be measured in the field in an agile way, so that it provides a complete basic analysis but not so complex and allows to have an attractive solution at cost”.

Cristina Peñas, Axion’s Commercial Director, talked about 5G and emergency networks. “Public operators are more oriented to population coverage services, we cover the territory, focusing on natural parks, which today do not have public network coverage”.

These sessions and all those taking place in this sixth edition of the 5G Forum, are available in ‘The Observatory‘, a platform launched by Medina Media Events, where you can also follow tomorrow’s presentations live.

The sixth edition of the 5G Forum, organized by Medina Media Events, is promoted by Sevilla City Office and Fibes, and has the support of Junta de Andalucía and the Agencia Digital de Andalucía, as well as Orange, Telefónica, Viavi Solutions, Ericsson, Capgemini, Rohde & Schwarz, Minsait, Netmetrix, OFG, ZTE, Huawei, Vantage Towers, Vodafone, Nokia, Gsertel, Hispasat, Axión and Impulsa Visión RTVE, among others.