Orange helps shape 5G and IoT

5G, the new standard

5G is fundamentally changing the telecommunications landscape, with many innovative technologies and applications based on this standard. The entire industry is under a great deal of pressure right now, from manufacturers to network operators and IT developers. Orange is playing a pioneering role in the area of technological foundation, international standardisation and the development of 5G applications. For this, Orange has a strategic plan with a clear objective: substantially upgrading its customer experience. 5G is faster than 4G, that is a fact. But 5G is more than that.

5G and the Internet of Things

Innovative technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are often held back by the limitations of other networks. 5G will not entirely replace 4G but instead complements it, enabling you to use the full potential of the IoT.

The unique feature of 5G is that it supports multiple user categories over a single network, each with their own industrial applications:

• Improved mobile broadband: This enables you to send up to 20 GB of data in 1 second and is useful in applications such as security cameras and VR/AR glasses for maintenance. The tugboats at the Port of Antwerp use it to send real-time images to the control room in order to safely pilot large cargo ships to the right dock.
• Ultra-reliable connections with low latency: The network responds instantly (in 7 ms). Ideal for self-driving cars and the operation of drones and robots. The Ghent start-up OTIV uses this to operate its self-driving rail vehicles.
• A mass of machine-type connections: Allows up to 1 million connected objects per square kilometre, for smart cities and industrial sensors.

Do you have an idea of your own for an IoT application? Check out our webinar How to grow your IoT idea? to get started.

Orange Belgium: an innovator in 5G and IoT

With the support of the European Union, Orange Belgium has committed itself to a variety of 5G and IoT development projects, in conjunction with partners including imec and several Flemish universities such as UAntwerpen, UHasselt and VUB.

One of the projects Orange is involved in is an ambitious project to turn Antwerp into Europe’s largest IoT project. For this purpose we have set up a permanent 5G Lab in Antwerp. There, companies can not only discover the 5G network and its many applications, but they can also develop and test innovative 5G applications. What’s more, Orange recently opened its second 5G Lab in La Grand Poste in Liège, a hub for creative and innovative companies.