Although all the major operators in our country announce with great fanfare that they have 5G, the truth is that for some time it has been a “decaffeinated version” of the technology (to put it kindly). At a technical level, it has been based on 5G NSA and has been deployed in the 3.5 GHz band. However, now it is time to make the leap to “real” 5G, aptly named 5G SA, which will be deployed in the same band, but also in the 700 MHz with greater range and penetration indoors. Today we have learned that Movistar has turned on 5G in the 700MHz band and wants to reach 1,400 municipalities by the end of the year and end 2023 with 2,400.
It is not necessary to change the SIM for 5G, just have a compatible mobile and be in one of the coverage areas. To date, Movistar offers 5G NSA to more than 80% of the population of our country. In this case, the improvement is minimal with respect to what 4G or 4G+ offer, since this 5G depends on its infrastructure. Now, the operator has announced the next step and the Mobile World Congress 2022 will be the first event with Telefónica’s 700MHz commercial coverage.
True 5G for 700 towns
Once the 700 MHz auction is over and authorization has been received from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation To activate the radio equipment (nodes) of this frequency band, Movistar has turned on 5G in this band. The operator confirms that the Mobile World Congress will be the first major event to feature Telefónica’s 700 MHz commercial 5G coverage, which is complemented by a special deployment of 5G in the 3.5 GHz band carried out by Telefónica in the Fira pavilions Barcelona.
But that’s not all, we have installed 5G base stations that will cover 700 towns throughout Spain once its power-up is complete. This process is not carried out suddenly and is progressive. In fact, the idea is to end the year with 1,400 municipalities with 700 MHz and in 2023 reach 2,400 active sites.
If we talk about 5G adding the 3.5 GHz band, Movistar has 5G coverage in all provincial capitals, large towns and small localities with less than 3,000 inhabitants. Some towns that will have 5G 700 MHz are: Almería, Alcudia, Ripoll, Rota, Madrigal de la Vera, Barbate, Azuqueca de Henares, Rota, Ocaña, Sada, Motril, Murcia, El Almendro, Andújar or Ezcaray.
5G interactive calls
In another order of things, today we have learned that Ericsson, Telefonica and Samsung will test 5G interactive calls. As they explain to us “This capacity allows to add a remote interaction in real time between people and things through a normal mobile phone call”.
The technology offers access to screen sharing with the other party, gaming or social collaboration in the course of a normal call. Demonstrations of different use cases can be seen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.