FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany -- Executives at the NGMN Industry Conference and Exhibition, here, this week welcomed a 5G alliance that was recently formed by car manufacturers and the telecoms industry, and called on other vertical sectors to form similar collaborations.
As noted by Deutsche Telekom CTO Bruno Jacobfeuerborn and others, unlike previous generations of mobile technologies, 5G will extend far beyond the traditional cellular base and will support multiple use cases in industry sectors ranging from the car industry through to utilities, agriculture, production and more.
“We are all affected by this one,” said Jacobfeuerborn.
The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) was unveiled in late September with the goal of working on 5G and the evolution of LTE, including Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication.
Founding members BMW Group, Daimler and Audi teamed up with Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, Huawei and Qualcomm to focus on applications such as automated driving and integration with smart cities and intelligent transportation. Vodafone Group also said on Friday that it has become the first telecoms operator to join the association.
Luke Ibbetson, Vodafone’s group head of research & development and technology strategy, will join the board of the association.
That in turn will bring the 5GAA closer to the work of the NGMN, and could see more operators and vendors join the alliance in future.
Alain Maloberti, SVP at Orange Labs Networks, noted that there is a requirement to embrace a wide ecosystem in the 5G era, which in turn will drive the need for cross-industry trials and pilots.
Thibaut Kleiner, deputy head of cabinet of Günther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for digital economy and society, explained that 5G “is a way to transform and digitise our industries.”
Kleiner added that the telecoms industry should already be engaging with verticals: “We should not wait for 5G. We should already start this conversation today.”