Vodafone Italia has switched on its 5G network in five cities across the country ahead of the Vodafone group’s launch of 5G roaming in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy next month. The ‘Giga Network 5G’ service is available now in the Milan metropolitan area (including 28 surrounding localities), Rome, Turin, Bologna and Naples, with around 45 to 50 cities to follow next year, rising to a total of 100 by 2021, said the company’s CEO Aldo Bisio during the official launch event in Milan. “5G paves the way for a new era of digital development services across the country,” said Bisio, adding that “we expect our services to grow exponentially and have a profound social and economic impact.”
Customers will be able to order the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G in Vodafone stores from 06 June, followed on 10 June by the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Starting 16 June, Vodafone’s residential consumers on “5G ready” plans (Red Unlimited Smart, Red Unlimited Black, Shake it Easy and Vodafone One Pro) will be able to access the 5G network at no additional cost, while all other customers will have to sign up to a “5G Start” option at a cost of EUR 5 per month, with the first month free. Similarly, business customers on 5G-enable Black plans will be able to access the network, with Red subscribers having to pay an additional EUR 5 per month.
Vodafone also confirmed that it’s still working with both Huawei and Nokia on its 5G infrastructure. In Milan, the company has implemented 33 out of a total of 41 proposed 5G projects in collaboration with 38 industrial and institutional partners in various areas including health and wellness, security and surveillance, manufacturing and industry, education and entertainment.
It has also reached an agreement with Telecom Italia (TIM) to share the cost of rolling out new 5G infrastructure throughout Italy and announced two calls for startups and SMEs developing projects based on the 5G standard in Italy after investing some EUR 2.41 billion to acquire 5G spectrum in the auction held by Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development at the end of last year.
Source: telecompaper
