Page 23 - SAMENA Trends - August 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

AT&T Claims ‘Nationwide’ 5G Coverage

AT&T Communications has announced 6GHz (‘5G’) and mmWave (‘5G+’) spectrum businesses … As we have throughout our
that its 5G mobile network has achieved bands will provide the best mix of speeds, 144-year history, we’ll continue to innovate
‘nationwide’ coverage, around seven latency and coverage that are needed to and invest in our network to expand our
months after going live. According to enable revolutionary new capabilities to 5G coverage to more consumers and
the telco, 5G coverage is available to fuel 5G experiences for consumers and businesses across the country.’
205 million consumers in 395 markets
across the US; notable new markets
include Little Rock, AR; Jacksonville, FL;
Minneapolis, MN; and Houston, TX. While
large parts of the country still lack access
to 5G technology, the rollout meets the
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) definition of nationwide coverage,
which is 200 million people served. By
contrast, AT&T’s 4G network covers 319
million people, or 99% of the population.
The low band 5G network utilizes former
3G spectrum in the 850MHz band. Chris
Sambar, EVP of Technology Operations
at AT&T Communications commented:
‘Our strategy of deploying 5G in both sub-

BT Accelerates the Next Phase of UK’s First Live
5G Private Network for Industry 4.0 and Smart

Manufacturing

BT announced that it is working with the over the 5G Private Network will also this a reality.” The UK’s first 5G factory
Worcestershire 5G Testbed (W5G) as its help to ensure health and safety on the installation has been switched on at the
lead technology partner to accelerate its factory floor. Gerry McQuade, CEO of BT’s Worcestershire 5G Testbed, with Worcester
vision of smart manufacturing delivered Enterprise business, said: “Working with Bosch working with BT and W5G to explore
through the UK’s first live 5G factory W5G and Worcester Bosch, we’re creating ways of boosting productivity through
installation. Building on its role in the a smart factory where machines can robotics, IoT, big data analytics and
development of the W5G Testbed over the learn and adapt to changes on the factory augmented reality. These technologies are
last two years, BT is providing its expertise floor as they happen, and make instant, running over the live Private 5G Network
across 5G Private Networks, wearable autonomous decisions to optimize the and edge computing infrastructure which
devices, IoT, data analytics and mobile production line. “This is only possible by is now being fully managed by BT. Carl
edge computing. The combination of these harnessing 5G Private Networks, IoT, data Arntzen, CEO Worcester Bosch, said:
technologies will make intelligent, dynamic analytics and mobile edge computing. BT’s “We have learnt an awful lot within the
and fully automated manufacturing role is in making these technologies work W5G Testbed, both about the 5G network
processes a reality. BT will enable W5G to in perfect harmony to gather and interpret itself, but most importantly about the
accelerate through the next phase of its the vast volumes of data generated by skills and competencies we need in-
development, moving it to a sustainable, connected machines and turning this into house, and what data to stream in order
scalable footing by expanding its scope real-time and actionable insight. “We’re to develop a real-time understanding of
to include new industry 4.0 enabled use already leading in 5G innovation across the behavior of various machines. We are
cases. These include enabling local healthcare, education, broadcasting and very eager to continue this learning and
engineering company Worcester Bosch, education. The digital transformation of are confident we can travel much further
and others, to boost productivity by using manufacturing processes will be critical in on this journey, deliver the productivity
autonomous robots to transport products rebooting the sector and driving regional gains we predicted, and go much further in
and materials, for example. The installation regeneration across the UK. We’re really developing the smart factory of the future.
of collision detection sensors connected excited to be at the forefront of making We intend to play a key role in making

23 AUGUST 2020