Press Releases

Budapest, February 25, 2019 15:00

• 5G rollout: first 150 Deutsche Telekom 5G antennas in six European countries
• First campus network with OSRAM put into operation
• World's first multiplayer game with Edge Computing support on show

Meticulous robots, digital dodgeball, green street furniture - at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Deutsche Telekom will be showing both high-performance networks and digital 5G applications. Private customers and especially industry will benefit from 5G networks. "5G is getting real in 2019," says Claudia Nemat, Board Member for Technology and Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. "5G will unleash its full power where many people come together or many machines interact with each other: In cities, villages, stadiums, concerts, universities, administrations, factories."

The first 150 live 5G antennas are already operating across Deutsche Telekom’s European networks in the first quarter of 2019. The company is rigorously testing the new standard in test fields in six countries. With 5G, networks can be tailored to individual customer needs. At the MWC press conference, Deutsche Telekom and technology company OSRAM put the first campus network into operation. The network is initially based on LTE. In a second step, 5G will follow. Gamers will also benefit from the low 5G network latency and the extremely high data rate. At Deutsche Telekom's booth, visitors can play the world's first edge-enhanced Mixed Reality Multiplayer experience.

150 5G antennas in six European countries

Already 150 5G antennas in six countries - this is Deutsche Telekom's first stepping stone on its 5G timetable for Europe. Telekom is currently testing 5G in six European countries: Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands. The antennas will transmit data over the 5G network in the first quarter. They are based entirely on the future 5G standard 5G New Radio (5G NR). The test operation for the new technology is already running at full speed. "And that in real life and not in the laboratory," emphasizes Nemat.

Starting signal: First campus network switched on

The new 5G technology offers many advantages specifically for industrial applications, keyword factory of the future. Especially when large numbers of mobile robots want to collaborate and communicate, they need a strong network. At the press conference, OSRAM and Deutsche Telekom jointly put the first campus network intended for 5G into operation. It is the OSRAM Schwabmünchen plant in Southern Germany. A campus network covers mobile communications for a defined area and for specific applications. "With our campus networks, we are delivering a new distinct solution for our industrial customers. Based on LTE, we can already implement many applications based on their individual needs," says Nemat. "With 5G, these networks will be even more powerful and flexible in the future."

OSRAM’s Schwabmünchen plant is implementing a dual-slice campus network. This means it combines a public and a private LTE network into a common infrastructure. It guarantees an optimal supply of mobile radio. OSRAM uses the private LTE network exclusively. Deutsche Telekom is also setting up a local edge cloud allowing data to be processed close to the application and with extremely low latency. So-called AGVs (automatically guided vehicles) transport products and materials at the OSRAM plant. A picture is worth a thousand words – here is the explanation video: What is a campus network? Further campus networks for companies are to follow: ZF Friedrichshafen and BorgWarner also rely on customized mobile communications.

Edge computing for gaming fun in real time

A central promise of 5G is to enable very low latencies. This distinguishes the new standard from earlier mobile radio standards. Edge computing enables ultra-low response times. The computing power is shifted to the "edge" of the network. MWC visitors can experience the advantages of this new technology at the Deutsche Telekom booth. In a global first, the company shows together with its partners MobiledgeX and Niantic “Codename: Neon”, a multiplayer game supported by edge computing. Several players and their devices interact in real time. Visitors can play the digital dodgeball on the brand-new edge-enabled Samsung Galaxy S10+. "For consumers, the new gaming experience will be one of the first applications they can enjoy," says Nemat.

Deutsche Telekom, MobiledgeX and Niantic have entered into a partnership. Together they create completely new Augmented Reality (AR) experiences. Deutsche Telekom provides the networks. MobiledgeX supplies the necessary programming interfaces. "Pokemon GO" developer Niantic delivers the application.

More control over your own data

In addition to almost all consumer data, up to 80 percent of all industry data is currently processed on non-European servers. More and more European companies see this as a major challenge for the future. T-Systems has developed a marketplace for the secure exchange of data: The Data Intelligence Hub. With this solution, data remains under the control of its owner at all times, not the platform that manages it.