Budapest, September 6, 2017 16:00

Today the Magyar Telekom Group organized a conference entitled „5G verticals” in Budapest with the participation of renowned international and Hungarian telecommunication and ICT experts, supported by Deutsche Telekom.

Billions of people are connected through the internet already today – while the trend in the coming era will be earmarked by enabling machines, devices and sensors to connect and communicate with each other – this is Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 in the industrial manufacturing processes. According to industry forecasts the number of connected devices may reach 50 billion by 2025 – and this requires high performance networks and the 5G new communication standard.

„In line with the 5G Coalition tasks we cooperate with the purpose of Hungary becoming one of the European hubs for 5G developments, and even playing a regionally leading role in testing the new network technology and smart solutions built on it” –Christopher Mattheisen, CEO of Magyar Telekom emphasized in his opening speech. He added: „For this purpose the Deutsche Telekom Group actively participates in the standardization process of the 5G technology, and building upon its competencies and experiences takes a proactive role in the program that promotes the digital transformation of Hungary.”

„The 4G technology brought about novelties in faster data transmission, introducing numerous new possibilities, however the development remained linear. 5G represents a new level in efficiently exploiting the achievements of cutting edge technology. It will therefore offer revolutionary solutions in numerous areas: transportation, agriculture, medical science, and public administration” – said dr. Kim Kyllesbech Larsen, Chief Technology and IT Officer of Magyar Telekom.

Countless different applications are expected to run on 5G, raising new requirements in terms of transmission speed, latency time, security and capacity. Moreover, 5G is also the precondition to real-time communication: the new network technology brings tremendous capacity increase, ten times faster data transmission and ten times lower latency. 5G offers stable latency times, which is very important when applying industrial robots as well as in air traffic control. This will be primarily required by the new generation of corporate and institutional solutions.

Consequent to the introduction of 5G, communication will spread all over, becoming part of every solution, bringing about quality changes in the most different industries by introducing new business models and more efficient architectures. 5G therefore opens new horizons for currently either non- existing or merely experimental technologies and solutions, like intelligent transport systems, smart homes and cities, automated remote surgical operations or medical care.

According to Uwe Janssen, Vice President of Deutsche Telekom responsible for research and development, the 5G solutions applied in the automotive industry truly demonstrate that the telecommunication industry is capable of recognizing the requirements of industry and offering solutions. Zsolt Szalay, associate professor and department head of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) is also convinced that initially automotive solutions will be the drivers of 5G. „BME is prepared to change the studies curriculum, shifting into this direction” – he said.

According to Minoo Abedi, senior analyst at T-Mobile Netherlands, the 5G technology is capable of creating an ecosystem that changes the way we live, communicate with each other or play. Technologies currently being tested will completely change the digital world.

Peter Marshall, director of Ericsson responsible for radio network solutions highlighted in his presentation that 5G is not just yet another G, but a new technology requiring a cultural change, that will impact the life of operators, as it is only up to them how much this technology can be made a success story. 

In early September 2017, Deutsche Telekom already announced a European premiere: On DT’s commercial network in Berlin, it went live with a 5G connection at over two gigabit per second and a low latency of three milliseconds over a 3.7 gigahertz spectrum link. The hardware manufactured by Huawei meets the 5G New Radio (NR) 3GPP specifications, while the implementation is the first in Europe and marks an important milestone towards the global development of 5G.

Magyar Telekom participates as a founder in the work of 5G Coalition fostering the cooperation amongst the government, industry players and scientific universities. Earlier in June this year, Magyar Telekom started to build the 5G mobile communication test network in Zalaegerszeg, at the automotive test track established there - within the frame of the cooperation agreement for the joint development signed by the city of Zalaegerszeg, the Automotive Test Track Zala Ltd., and T-Systems Hungary, the subsidiary of Magyar Telekom.