Orange Poland has flagged a trial with Sony and its broadcasting solutions subsidiary Nevion on the delivery of live video content over a private 5G network, claiming that the joint solution will open up “new possibilities” for the entertainment industry.
According to the Polish unit of the France‑based Orange Group, ATM System, a film and television equipment supplier that is part of ATM Grupa, tested Orange’s private 5G network and Nevion’s Networked Live remote production solution during the 2024 World Rowing Cup that took place in Poznań in June.
Orange said this represents the first time a private 5G network has been used in Poland for the transmission of ‘high‑quality’ live images and sound, and indicated that a demo version of the solution is available in the 5G Lab at its Warsaw headquarters.
Notably, Sony and Nevion have also been working with Deutsche Telekom, the parent of Orange Poland’s rival T‑Mobile Poland, on the delivery of live video content in Germany using 5G standalone and network application programming interfaces (API).
In addition, Nevion and Ericsson have acted as DT’s tech partners to support live broadcasts from football matches by partner RTL Deutschland, which is transmitting free‑to‑air coverage of some matches using a DT-supplied 5G campus network.
5G on a roll
Orange Poland is keen to frame the trial with Nevion as proof that private 5G networks are the future of TV broadcasting, with benefits including high throughput with very low latency as well as the ability to reduce the amount of hardware required when broadcasting live events.
In the meantime, the operator is continuing to build out its 5G network across Poland after winning spectrum rights in the nation’s auction of frequencies between 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz (or C‑band) last October.
Orange currently operates more than 2,000 base stations in the 3.6GHz–3.7GHz range and said it is aiming to reach 3,000 in 350 towns and cities by the end of 2024. In addition, it is expanding 5G coverage using dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology in the 2.1GHz band shared with 4G services.
T‑Mobile Poland said 2,800 base stations have now been upgraded to 5G More, its 5G network that operates in the 3.7GHz–3.8GHz range. According to OpenSignal, Polkomtel (Plus) had not deployed its 3.4GHz–3.5GHz spectrum as of March 2024. Iliad’s Play announced the launch of 5G services in its 3.5GHz–3.6GHz block in January 2024. At the time, it said 215 base stations supported the new frequencies.