T-Mobile Austria recently demonstrated the first 5G live operation in Innsbruck using the preliminary version of the final 5G standard with Huawei.
The network in Innsbruck delivers record-breaking transmission rates of 2Gbps and a latency of just three milliseconds. Super-fast network response times and extremely high bandwidths are the biggest advantages of 5G, now being showcased in Tyrol’s capital city.
T-Mobile is using the frequency spectrum in the 3.7 gigahertz range coupled with equipment from technology partner Huawei and fiber-optic infrastructure of Innsbruck’s municipal companies for its first live 5G operations in Innsbruck.
With Europe’s inaugural 5G drone flight, T-Mobile is demonstrating with technology partner Huawei that next-generation mobile communication is fast enough to control a drone in real time, and also transmit a high-resolution camera image of the drone.
While drones can already follow a programmed flight route, it has not been possible so far to control drones efficiently using mobile communication–say for unpredictable rescue missions that cannot be preprogrammed. In such cases, a Wi-Fi signal is often used to maintain contact between pilot and drone, notwithstanding the limitations associated with the range and transmitter. The use of 5G opens up an all-new dimension in innovative drone applications, which may even help save lives one day.
Back in 2009, Innsbruck was host to Austria’s first LTE showcase. T-Mobile presented the world’s first test of mobile multiuser broadband services on an LTE-based next-generation mobile network (NGMN) in Innsbruck.
Rudiger Koster, CTO Mobile Austria
We chose Innsbruck back in 2009 as the pioneering city for the fourth-generation mobile communication and rolled out the first test network of the then new technology LTE on air. Nine years later we are showing in Innsbruck the next evolutionary stage of mobile communication: 5G live in the city center rather than in the laboratory.
Rudiger Koster, CTO, Austria
The upcoming frequency auction will determine just how fast 5G can be rolled out in Austria. A simple auction design that reduces complexity, the national award of licenses with adjacent frequency spectrum, and support for collaborative ventures are essential to delivering 5G rapidly in Austria.
