Telefonica Colombia (Movistar) has staged its second 5G trial, at the Central Military Hospital of Bogota. The new pilot involved a 5G-connected ‘medical trolley’ and achieved transmission speeds of up to 1.62Gbps/176Mbps (downlink/uplink). 5G access will allow the hospital ‘to optimise ambulance resources by classifying the level of medical urgency through remote diagnosis’. The trial uses equipment from ZTE and a block of 3.5GHz spectrum, which the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC) has permitted Movistar to utilise for 5G testing purposes.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, back in May 2020 the telco staged Colombia’s first 5G trial. That pilot took place in association with Huawei and the Ministry of Health in Bogota and achieved download speeds of 1.4Gbps.