Orange is opening its third 5G testbed in France, after getting the green light from the country’s regulator.
Arcep has given the operator permission to use spectrum in the 3.7-3.8GHz band to trial next generation technology in Marseille in conjunction with Nokia. It will join Lille and Douai as Orange’s 5G testbeds in its home market, where it is working with Ericsson.
The operator said it wants to use 5G to improve mobile broadband, deliver fixed broadband access as well as new use cases.
[Read more: Europe keen to avoid 5G fragmentation, says Orange Head of Innovation]
A spokesperson said: “Orange is anticipating the development of its high-speed mobile broadband network due to strong growth in mobile internet traffic.
“5G responds to increasing multimedia content consumption…and improves the experience of services such as augmented reality and virtual reality, as well as preparing for future developments: new services linked to the increased use of connected objects, and the option for companies to deploy a local wireless network.”
Yesterday the operator demonstrated its fixed-wireless access service in Romania. Fifteen of its customers have been chosen to test how the technology could enable HD streaming and low latency gaming.
Earlier this year, Orange said it would not launch 5G services before 2020. Speaking at the time, Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, Executive Director of Innovation, Marketing and Technologies at Orange, said she saw 5G sitting complementary to LTE. She said: “[User] needs are not going to change from one day to next because of 5G. Usage is doubling every year. We need to allow people to do what they are doing with better quality of service.”