The City of Trikala and telecommunications company Vodafone presented the project for the first smart city, or “Giga City,” as they described the town in central Greece.
Trikala is one of the three cities in Greece to have launched a fifth-generation (5G) mobile phone network – on a pilot basis for the time being. However, as Vodafone Greece chairman and chief executive Haris Broumidis explained, as of 2021, the commercial operation of 5G networks will begin across Greece.
He added that the objective is the termination of the 3G network’s operation by end-2022, ending the period that the company began in 2002. He said the aim is to have only the 4G and 5G networks operating by the end of that three-year period.
Trikala Mayor Giorgos Papastergios stated that his town aspires to become “the capital of giga” – referring to gigabytes – “and giga apps.”
Asked about Kalamata’s recent decision to stop the 5G network pilot program, Papastergios said Greeks should stop being technophobes, and added that he has obtained a mobile station for measuring radiation, with the data being presented live on the municipal authority’s website.