5G makes the world a safer place

"With 5G, it's almost always about latency and speed," says Tania Defraine, Director of Enterprise Solutions & Platforms at Proximus. "But it's better to look at 5G from the application context. 5G, just like fiber, is an enabler for applications."

The fact that we are moving to the cloud, that the importance of security increases in the process, and that we are using AI: that is what it is all about for Proximus. "The cloud is obviously not new," adds Tania Defraine. "And via 4G it works too. But the importance and volume of data is increasing. 5G makes a lot more possible here."

Concrete business cases

With 5G, companies are getting a new form of connectivity. In practice, we will have to see which connectivity best suits which case. Sometimes it will be 5G, sometimes 4G, Wi-Fi or narrow-band IoT. This is also the starting point Proximus uses in its three Belgian 5G innovation hubs. "Every test starts from a concrete business case.”

“We see different types of 5G applications in the Belgian market:

• Drones for inspection, surveillance, as well as inventory management and other purposes.
• Critical communication and remote assistance for emergency services, for example.
• Live streaming of sport competitions.
• Visualization of 3D models on site thanks to mixed reality.
• Self-driving forklifts for moving pallets.
• Etc."

Tania Defraine, Director Enterprise Solutions & Platforms at Proximus.

Higher degree of security

Recent geopolitical developments are steering Europe toward more local production. In doing so, new technology may help address the problem of labor shortages. But does additional technology not also make us more vulnerable to cybercrime? "5G makes the world a safer place," asserts Tania Defraine. "That has everything to do with the possibilities of slicing. With 5G, you can keep critical and non-critical applications perfectly separated in segregated slices of the network."

5G on wheels

Meanwhile, Proximus – like other operators in the process of rolling out 5G – also offers 5G-PN (Private Network): a mobile private 5G network. Tania Defraine: "True, although you can't regard that network as a stand-alone solution. You should always see it as part of a bigger picture that's integrated with other elements."

With its 5G Experience Truck, Proximus is also offering a solution to quickly set up a 5G network locally, or for the duration of an event, for example. "We are now accelerating the rollout of the 5G network," concludes Tania Defraine. "We're aiming for 100% coverage by 2025. Then we'll see more and more real concrete cases.”