Telecom Italia (TIM) has switched on a trial 5G cell site in the north-western city of Sanremo, to coincide with the Sanremo Music Festival, which is taking place this week.
The test network – which is said to be one of the first 5G sites in Italy – utilises spectrum in the 3.7GHz band, as acquired by TIM in the government’s EUR6.6 billion (USD7.6 billion) auction in October last year. The 5G network utilises Massive MIMO-enabled smart antennas from Ericsson and a Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem.