5G arrives in Slovenia courtesy of Telekom Slovenije

Slovenia is about to get to grips with 5G for the first time, with Telekom Slovenije announcing that it is launching the next generation mobile technology.

Telekom Slovenije’s launch relies the 2,600 GHz frequency the operator already uses for its LTE network. Currently, 150 base stations have been upgraded to carry the 5G signal, giving their 4G/5G network a coverage of around a quarter of the country. This number is expected to surpass one third of the country by the end of the year.

While this new 5G network will support faster speeds than existing 4G LTE, its reliance on the same spectrum means that its improvement is likely to be fairly minimal. However, once more spectrum is made available, the speeds available should increase to around 10 Gbps.

“5G will usher in the development of new business models and innovative ICT solutions with high added value, and bring about new technological breakthroughs (supported with artificial intelligence), advanced multimedia services, virtual and augmented reality, and continued development of solutions related to the internet of things and the digitalisation of the whole society,” said Tomaž Seljak, the President of the Management Board of Telekom Slovenije. 

Mobile phones supporting 5G will soon be introduced, following the necessary software updates by the vendors.

Slovenia was originally planning to conduct a 5G spectrum auction in June this year, with frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1,400/15,00 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 3,600MHz and 26 GHz all up for grabs; however, updates to the Radio Frequency Spectrum Management Strategy forced to regulator to postpone the auction. With a consultation period on the auction reportedly taking place soon, the regulator has stated that it hopes to conduct the auction before the end of 2020.

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Dutch 5G spectrum auction completes, raises €1.23bn