Poland’s regulator the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) has signed an agreement with the cities of Rzeszów and Wrocław as well as the Union of Polish Metropolises (Unia Metropolii Polskich) to educate local governments in the use of 5G to build private networks. From a wider perspective the initiative is intended to help the municipalities to effectively manage spectrum, while also convincing potential investors and local communities about the benefits of Smart City applications.
The Union of Polish Metropolises represents the 12 largest cities in the country. The regulator emphasised that the agreement is open to all local government units, including smaller ones that do not always have adequate human resources and substantive knowledge.
Telko.in reported that UKE President Jacek Oko wants to put the dedicated local government private 5G network band to work so will now share practical 5G knowledge in the field. Before UKE decided to allocate the 3800-4200MHz band for private 5G networks (of which the first 100MHz for exclusive use by local government units for their own needs), Oko said UKE representatives held many talks with local government officials and organizations associating local government units.
Catalogue of 5G solutions
In addition to communication, promotional and educational issues, UKE wants the team’s work to create a catalogue of solutions in the medium term, which would describe: “proven implementations along with the benefits obtained, entities helping in their implementation, as well as potential sources of financing for projects. One of the tasks will also be to identify barriers and work together to eliminate them,” according to Telko.in.
“As an office, we provide our support. We also hope to acquire practical knowledge, which in the future will translate into better regulatory decisions supporting the digital development of cities, towns and villages,” said Oko, adding that “the level of understanding of the potential of 5G and digitalisation” was “very diverse” between local governments and organizations bringing together local government units.
“As an office, we provide our support. We also hope to acquire practical knowledge, which in the future will translate into better regulatory decisions supporting the digital development of cities, towns and villages,” he said.
Some of the other work will include conducting joint communication and promotional campaigns regarding smart city solutions including showing the benefits to citizens. According to the PAP Local Government Service website, the cooperation is to be financed from the parties’ own funds or from funds jointly obtained from other institutions. The document also covers legal and technical aspects related to the implementation of the described solutions.