Companies at the forefront of 5G technology
Finland has acted as a pioneer in every mobile generation. Moreover, the latest 5G technology has quickly been adopted in the country: 5G networks already cover two-thirds of the municipalities in Finland and 84 per cent of households. 5G will benefit consumers in many ways, but its real benefits will be seen in the industrial use.
Finns are avid mobile technology users: we use an average of 55 gigabytes of mobile data per capita every month, said Heli Partanen, CEO of Telia Finland and chairman of FiCom’s board, in a joint webinar between FiCom and EuroISPA about European 5G development on 17 June 2022. In 2020, more than half of all mobile phones sold were 5G-ready. Telecoms companies are constantly investing in developing their networks to meet the growing demand for data.
5G is different from previous mobile generations. It will certainly bring more transfer speed and capacity to consumers and reduce network latency, but above all, the advantages of the new technology will be visible in business operations. 5G will allow companies to increase their efficiency and productivity. The extremely low latency of 5G networks creates, for example, remote access opportunities in the industry, which improve, for example, safety at work, Partanen pointed out.
The possibilities of 5G are already being utilised in many industries. Telia’s 5G solutions are involved, for example, in promoting the handling of shipping containers and the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Telia has also been at the forefront of building one of the world’s first and largest 5G private networks based on network slicing and edge computing at a gold mine in Kittilä. The network works not only above ground but also deep inside the mine. In addition to other benefits, the network is enabling new mining technologies and increasing the company’s operational reliability.