There is already 5G in Portugal. Ten Questions About What Will Change – Observer
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Yes. Anacom has already assigned licenses to Nos, Vodafone, Dense Air, Nowo and Digi Mobil. At the moment, only Meo is not yet able to operate, as it has not yet paid for the respective license. To the Observer, an Altice Portugal explains that the payment of 5G licenses “will be made according to the periods taken by Anacom”. The regulator has given ten working days since November 23 for the six winning operators in the auction to make the respective payment, which means that it will be necessary until December 9 to make that deposit.
Yes. Nos and Vodafone have already announced the launch of the service and anyone with certain tariffs and for the customer of one of these operators had the opportunity to see, in some places, the indication that they had 5G service. Nos explained that “the first customers to be able to try the Nos 5G are subscribers of the Sem Limites Max tariff, which, without the need for any activation, now have immediate access to the new mobile technology”. This tariff, according to the operator’s website, costs 39.99 / month for 24 months (it’s a promotional price). The company that will, in the next few days, launch more offers, but has not yet done so.
Vodafone also has offers available on the website, but with the purchase of mobile phones including. In a statement it announced that until January 31, it will have 5G available in all its tariffs, “without additional charges and without requiring customers to take any action”. For private customers, at the end of this trial period, 5G “will be integrated by default into the Red 10GB, Red Infinity and Vodafone You 10GB and Yorn X 10GB prepaid tariffs, being used in the other tariffs and at the customer’s request. the monthly value of 5 euros”. For business, 5G is “automatically available and integrated into the Red 10GB, V4 tariffs and in all Infinity plans, sent to the other tariffs, in case of reduction of continuity access to 5G by the customer, the value monthly fee of 4.07 euros excluding VAT”.
Meo, on the other hand, despite not having operational service yet, has, since the beginning of this year, a 5G tariff in pre-sale, with an annual discount of 50%, with no value of 30 euros/year, valid for 12 months at full speed . The operator also says that “the commercial launch of the service, dependent on the completion of the DUF development process [Direitos de Utilização de Frequência] make anacom regulator [estando neste momento do lado da Meo o pagamento], will be done quickly”.
Nowo, owned by Spain’s Más Móvil, does not yet have any website with any indication of 5G pricing. To the Observer, the operator guarantees that “the process of developing and implementing a new technology such as 5G is ambitious and not immediate”, having in this operator’s case the added challenge of having to build a network – it has the possibility under the rules of auction of having agreements with current network holders to have access to infrastructure. Therefore, the operator emphasizes to the Observer that it hopes to be ready “with the new 5G mobile services at the right time when they are a real reality and the majority of users can enjoy them”.
This is a secret that operators do not want to reveal. Us, Vodafone and Meo, even before they were licensed, were testing the 5G. However, it does not say where they have 5G antennas, so customers should be checking the coverage on their cell phone (a 5G indication appears when available).
Tests were performed by all network operators. Tells us that from 2019 it has been using the city of Matosinhos as a “living laboratory for the development of 5G technology, with the objective of preparing its network, but also to test the application of the technology in specific cases, specifically with regard to to the development of smart cities”. In the last year, he says he has intensified the work not only in Matosinhos. He talks about some pilots that were launched: the 5G football stadium, which is the Estádio da Luz; the 5G hospital, the Hospital da Luz; the 5G School, João Gonçalves Zarco, in Matosinhos; a coverage of more than 5 km of the Costa da Caparica beach area; and the 5G factory, that of Sumol + Compal in Almeirim; having also presented at the Port of Leixões the 5G technology for the management of its operations.
Vodafone customers will be able to experience 5G by the end of January
Vodafone assumes its intention to cover the district capitals at start-up, until reaching “progressively” more than 90% of the Portuguese population in 2025. To the Observer, one operator assumes that there is a certain certainty to the return in which 5G may not work. “The coverage will be gradual and will progressively reach more places”, answers the company. Even so, the British company says that 5G “is already available in Greater Lisbon, Greater Porto, the Algarve coast and other capitals of the mainland district and islands”, as stated on its official website.
And Meo also talks about several tests since 2019 “in various places in the country”, guaranteeing coverage of the Altice Arena and Estádio do Dragão, for example.
In other words, despite the tests and the technology being already available, as operators they close themselves in cups over the places where they have the service, educating themselves on business secrets. And that’s why there are several places where there will be no indication of 5G network by operators.
Although the concessions have only now been awarded, it is certain that the coverage provided for in the regulation must be complied with. This has already made a point of affirming Anacom. Thus, by the end of 2023, coverage of 75% of the population must be guaranteed and by the end of 2025 a total of 90% of each parish considered to be of low density and of each parish in the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores. Coverage of non-assessed low-density parishes that integrate low-density municipalities has to reach 70% by the end of 2024 and 90% by the end of 2025.
By the end of 2025 95% of the country’s total population must be covered, each of the highways, such as the Lisbon, Porto and Sul do Tejo metro networks and the rail routes included in the Atlantic Corridor, in the part relating to national territory, the Braga-Lisbon link, the Lisbon-Faro link and the urban and suburban links between Lisbon and Porto; and 85% of each of the main road routes, Estrada Nacional 1 and Estrada Nacional 2 and each of the rail routes.
The 5G will be an update of the current network, a fourth generation mobile. It will allow greater addition without downloading and without uploading (allowed plus up to 10Gbps), lower latency (the response time between the moment the order is given and the moment it is carried out – which will be reduced to about 5 milliseconds, compared to current 25 to 35) and higher capacity. That is why it is said that this system will allow all equipped equipment to be connected together and we will have many more equipment connected at the same time. In other words, those typical end-of-year congestions can be reduced by 5G capacity, but this also depends on network management by operators.
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It is because of the latency that there is talk of the possibility that the 5G will allow, over a period of time, online surgeries and autonomous cars – of course, for these services, it will later be necessary to adapt the regulation and regulate.
In addition, in theory, 5G will also allow operators to pass packages with access to more mobile and even unlimited data, unlike what they do now in Portugal (currently, a plan with 10 gigs of use is still one of the most expensive) . This has to do with the capacity of the antennas. By allowing more related devices to be connected, they are also able to send more information to the devices without the danger of network breaks.
As an example, in the US, the UK or South Korea, which were among the first countries to offer 5G, there are now plans with unlimited access to data with prices compared to those charged for packages provided with 4G.
No. As current networks will continue to function. As happened when 4G was introduced as previous networks – 3G and 2G – continued.
If you want to have 5G you must have a 5G device. There are already several available on the market, but prices are still high. Most private customers do not need this type of network in their usual use. Over time, there will be more need for new services that may be launched. But for now – particularly if you don’t have money for superfluous expenses – you don’t need to run to a store to buy a 5G device.
None of the operators reveal how many 5G mobile phones they estimate already exist in the national market. Nos, which, in August 2019, was the first operator to launch a smartphone with 5G technology in Portugal (the Huawei Mate X 20 5G) believes that “the number of customers is increasing as more 5G devices are introduced in the Marketplace “.
Even without 5G in Portugal, NOS launches 5G smartphone from Huawei
As 5G technology is more and more common nowadays, most new smartphone models come already equipped with the components available for users to access the service. Consulting the main retailers in Portugal, it is possible to see equipment for sale with this technology from brands such as an Oppo (Reno 4 Pro or A73 5G, a Xiaomi (Redmi Note 9T 5G or Mi 10T), a Samsung (Galaxy A42 5G , Note 20 Ultra or S20 FE) and Apple (iPhone 12 and iPhone 13). Prices vary a lot: between 200 and two thousand euros).
IDC, in turn, estimates that in the third quarter of 2021 almost 40% of new mobile phones sold already had 5G, says the Observer.
The idea of the auction was, precisely, to allow more operators to enter the market. And an operator that does not have any operation in the national market – Dixarobil – which has not yet communicated plans for the country, competed. Nowo has also secured mobile license. So far, the company has had a fixed network in the country and offers a mobile service through an agreement with Meo.
Dense Air, which also granted licenses, is a wholesale operator, that is, it offers services to other operators. Hence it is not a provider of communications services to end consumers.
The existing war with Anacom in the 5G auction was closely linked to the more advantageous conditions given to new entrants who, incidentally, had their own candidacy period and spectrum reserved for them. In addition, the regulation determined the obligation of network operators to give roaming national (or using existing infrastructure) for 10 years. And they have to have network sharing agreements.
It was, in fact, these favorable conditions for entrants that led to several lawsuits in court against the rules of the auction and that led to the extension of the tender for almost 10 months. As complaints also reached Brussels, as the existing operators complained that there is illegal state aid. The European Commission has not yet released any decision on these investigations.
Operators have, on the one hand, to pay for licenses and, on the other hand, make investments to have networks available. The State collected 566.8 million in the two bidding phases.
In the auction, Nos invested a total of 165 million, followed by Vodafone with 133 million, Meo with 125.2 million, Nowo with 70 million, DixaRobil (related to Digi) with 67.3 million and Dense Air with 5.7 million.
5G auction ends. Fitting of nearly 567 million
In addition to this payment, as frequencies determine the annual payment of spectrum fees.
Furthermore, the investment that each operator will make in the networks. But then again it comes back to an unsecreted number of the gods. Nowo assumes an investment of 100 million euros in 2021, which will include an investment of 500 million euros in five years.
As has been said, operators are already launching 5G and will progressively reach the coverage they are required to and deadlines have not been changed. In other countries where auctions ended earlier, services are not yet widespread either. Thus, Portugal should not, according to experts, be late compared to most countries in the near future.
Asian countries, namely South Korea, are the most advanced. Some studies indicate that globally users could reach billions in 2023.