Open Fiber and Wind Tre will carry out an experimental project on 5G technology in the city of L'Aquila, after being awarded the tender published by the Ministry of Economic Development last September which also involves the Municipality of Prato. The goal is to build a "5G City" in which families and businesses can benefit from innovative services in areas such as health, mobility, safety, prevention and emergency management. In particular, the 5G pre-commercial experimentation will concern the 3.6-3.8 GHz portion of the spectrum in the area 2 of Prato and L'Aquila (through the use of rights of use for the 3.7-3.8 GHz frequencies) and will last until 31 December 2021.
Although the experimentation is aimed at two well-defined territorial areas such as L'Aquila and Prato, it has characteristics that can be replicated at a national and European level. Open Fiber and Wind Tre, which have combined skills, infrastructure and investments in this initiative, are individually involved in two important BUL (Ultra Broadband) infrastructure projects in Italy. Open Fiber is building an entirely optical fiber network in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) mode, capable of reaching speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) both in download and upload and to support all potential of the technologies that will be developed in the coming years. Wind Tre is instead focusing on the largest plan currently underway for the integration and modernization of a mobile radio network, which will lead to the creation of a network with over 21 radio sites operating with 2G, 3G, 4G, 4.5G technologies throughout Italy . Both projects operate in synergy with the development of 5G networks, which provide for the densification of radio sites in order to enable very high capacity and/or very low latency services, capable of managing a large number of devices.
Universities (Florence, Polo di Prato, L'Aquila, Genoa, Bologna), research centers (such as the Bruno Kessler Foundation, Nextworks), companies (among others, Enel's e-distribution) are involved in the experimentation in L'Aquila and Prato , ZTE, Estra). 5G technology is not a simple evolution of current broadband networks, but a new technology with enormous potential both in terms of networks and services. With its large-scale diffusion, it will in fact be possible to improve the health assistance system, optimize the distribution of electricity, guarantee greater safety for citizens, thanks to video surveillance and intelligent road systems, encourage the diffusion of digitization and of automation in industrial processes (Industry 4.0) and the Internet of things.
“The future is upon us. – declared the mayor of L'Aquila Pierluigi Biondi – The experimentation of 5G technology in the Municipality of L'Aquila will pave the way for new and innovative services, making our city truly "smart" and improving its quality of life. The post-earthquake reconstruction of the city acquires an even more challenging connotation, becoming real urban regeneration. I thank the Ministry for Economic Development for choosing L'Aquila among the pilot cities and Open Fiber and Wind Tre which will develop the project, with important financial and technological investments".
The official hashtag to follow the 5G experimentation of Wind Tre and Open Fiber on Twitter is #Roadto5G.
