“The 5G technology is a major transformation for the industry and Romania. It is a significant investment for us. There are still a lot of questions, but we expect a transparent and fair process. 5G is not a simple technology, it is an ecosystem, which needs clear regulations, a good price,” said Liudmila Climoc, CEO of Orange Romania, during the first day of the ZF Digital 2018 event.
The development of the 5G infrastructure will allow creation and implementation of new products and services for both the telecom operators and for the players in various sectors of the economy and they will be based on artificial intelligence technology and machine learning. The 5G applications cover a wide spectrum of products and services, from IoT (Internet of Things ) devices and industrial machinery to self-driving cars.
“In 5G, if you want the benefits we are talking about, such as IoT, self-driving cars and so on, you must be close to the customer. You can’t have a data center in the US and operate here,” said Miroslav Majoros, CEO of Telekom Romania.
This entails significant investment. A high network density is needed, and costs will be huge, and no one is telling us how to do it. It must be understood that the benefits of the investments may take as much as five years to show, the Telekom official added.
Under the circumstances, as the implementation of the 5G technology will not only upgrade the current telecommunications networks, but also open new horizons for business in various industries, the 5G auction could bring new telecom actors on the local market.
“There is room for participation of new operators, too, in the auction we will have next year. It is an auction, which means that anyone coming must start from scratch. Yet I cannot say I wouldn’t be glad to see more competition,” said Sorin Grindeanu, chairman of telecommunications market regulator ANCOM. It is important to make use of the development and innovation potential of the new 5G technology, he added.
“Almost every survey about the Romanian market talks about 5G technology-related investments of some EUR9 billion until 2023 – 2024. Let me be clear on this, these EUR9 billion do not have to do with the communications sector only or with what the operators are supposed to do, but with all the other sectors that will be forced by the market to access these technologies, such as services, medicine, transportation, agriculture, healthcare and so on.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)