Orange Belgium said it is the first to activate a 5G testing hub for business in Belgium.
By creating an open innovation hub, Orange Belgium will start using the full potential of 5G technology together with industrial partners on real-life applications. Thanks to the 5G testing network deployed on the campus, the partners will benefit from a dedicated connectivity and guaranteed quality of services required for industrial use cases. Orange Belgium chose the region around the port of Antwerp because of its industry and wide variety of testing options.
This 5G testing network of Orange is the first 5G stand-alone architecture network in Belgium that will be used by industrial partners. This means that 5G capacities are not just added on top of regular 4G/3G technologies, but deployed as a separate network enabling network slicing, very low latency and massive IoT.
For the Orange Industry 4.0 Campus, Orange Belgium has chosen ZTE as a technical partner. The Orange Industry 4.0 Campus illustrates the possibilities of the 5G stand-alone technology in a highly industrialized environment.
At first, the Orange Industry 4.0 Campus is powered by 7 sites in the area of the port of Antwerp. By the end of April 2020, 14 sites will be on air, providing coverage in different places in the region of the port of Antwerp (150km²). The area is a great nest for such experimentations, as it welcomes several large industrial players that could benefit from the industrial applications of 5G.
Stefan Slavnicu, CTO, Orange Belgium said,"Today we can provide 5G stand-alone (SA) connectivity in our 5G testing hub for business: this is the most advanced version of 5G."
Michael Trabbia, CEO, Orange Belgium said,"As a Bold Challenger, also in the enterprise market, we are very proud to open our Orange Industry 4.0 Campus in the port of Antwerp to start testing 5G use cases that can benefit from the full potential of 5G, needed to increase the competitiveness for business."