The latest and fastest mobile communications standard, 5G, has been available since 2019 and the expansion by the major telecommunications providers Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica is progressing well. For example, Deutsche Telekom is advertising that it will be able to cover 90% of the German population in the expansion area by the end of 2022.
However, part of the 5G license agreements is that companies or local providers are allowed to create so-called campus networks in the 5G standard. Without license payments to the Federal Network Agency, local areas of companies or universities, for example, can be covered with their own 5G network.
These campus networks can then also be integrated into the networks of the major providers via roaming, thus generating revenue from local operations. The agreements favorable to the local provider in this regard are specified by the Federal Network Agency. 220 licenses for campus networks have been issued so far.
In addition to telephony applications and data streaming, 5G offers features useful for IoT operations. Particularly noteworthy is the extremely low latency in data transmission, which makes real-time applications possible (remote control, telemedicine, etc.).
Currently, “Markt&Technik” reports that so far such campus networks have mainly been used by companies and research institutions only for test installations and evaluation and names. Network equipment supplier Nokia names “5 errors” that lead to this development:
Misconception 1: Campus networks can replace unreliable and unstable WiFi for IoT devices. Nokia assumes that a mix of wireless standards will remain and that WiFi will not be fully integrated. to be replaced.
Misconception 2: Too few 5G-capable devices are available. However, almost all current smartphones already have 5G modes. And for industrial electronics, Nokia says 5G-enabled transmission electronics are already available on the market for 85% of all use cases.
Misconception 3: Edge computing would replace the central cloud. Instead of transferring all raw data with high performance to the cloud for central processing and storage with 5G, at least pre-processing can take place in the IoT device via edge computing and ensure that high volumes of data do not have to be transmitted permanently. However, the basic principle of all IoT systems is to aggregate data in the cloud for AI, business processes and predictive applications – and with more data, more accurate predictions can be made.
Misconception 4: The return on investment (ROI) of campus networks is unclear. The high cost of installing and operating a 5G campus network would make a quick ROI impossible. Nokia provides interested parties with a calculator for determining all costs (TCO). If experienced partners were worked with and revenues from roaming were included, such networks could be profitable as early as the 2nd year of operation.
Misconception 5: There would be no available frequencies for campus networks. In addition to the licensed frequencies offered by the Federal Network Agency, there are also license-free frequency bands. LTE-U (Unlicensed) or 5G NR-U (New Radio – Unlicensed) are being used by more and more countries.
