The new frontiers of mobile technology arrive in Sanremo. On the occasion of the Festival, in fact, TIM lights up in the city of flowers some antennas for the new 5G network that use the frequencies acquired at the recent tender of the Ministry for Economic Development with a total investment of 2.4 billion euros.
In particular, the frequencies used are those available from the first of January this year that, on the 3.7 GHz band and through the new 5G Ericsson smart antennas (Massive MIMO), are able to dynamically adapt to the position of individual customers and to the data traffic generated. TIM's 5G network is already operational and has enabled the first prototypes of terminals supported by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon ™ X50 5G modem to be connected to the live network, tested for the first time in Italy in TIM laboratories at the end of 2018, which anticipate smartphones commercial that will arrive on the market during 2019.
This is an important technological acceleration that sees Sanremo among the first cities of Italy to be equipped with this new infrastructure, thanks to which the whole area of the city center will be covered. The initiative is part of the TIM project to boost the 5G in Italy, with the aim of making new generation services available to customers in the first part of the year.
Thanks to the new network, during the Festival week it will be possible to experiment with the innovative 360º 4K live streaming video service in Virtual Reality. By going to the dedicated corners located at Forte Santa Tecla, Piazza Cristoforo Colombo and the Ariston Theater Press Room, visitors will be transported to the events taking place in Piazza Cristoforo Colombo, allowing the immersive visit of the scene through the use of a high definition camera and exploiting the potential of the 5G mobile network (high bandwidth and low latency). It is an innovative service that enables new scenarios in the areas of tourism, public safety and Industry 4.0.
Also at Piazza Cristoforo Colombo and the Forte Santa Tecla it will also be possible to experience a guided tours service that are part of projects related to digital tourism: visitors are accompanied on an immersive tour of Piazza Navona in Rome and the Pietro Micca Galleries of Turin, through the use of Virtual Reality glasses, with the possibility of interacting with a real museum guide and exploring areas not currently accessible to the public.
Virtual Reality is one of the application areas that can be further enhanced by the use of 5G networks. This is an application scenario that, already today, sees a great use in many sectors. The potential induced linked to virtualization technologies can widen the attractiveness of the city by tourists, start-ups and local creative studios, representing an important vehicle for the communication of the cultural offerings of a territory, as also foreseen in the Plan Strategic Tourism proposed by MIBAC.
In addition to the innovative 5G technology, TIM has strengthened in the city of Sanremo the 4.5G network thanks to 44 micro and macro cellular antennas, all connected in fiber, for a total of 136 cells able to offer a coverage of 99% of the population, guaranteeing TIM customers a quality of service excellence.
TIM once again consolidates its leadership in the mobile communications market in Italy and in the development of fifth generation services, already partially shown in the 2018 trials, and which will soon be available to all TIM customers and throughout the country. the basis for an improvement in the lifestyle of citizens, the processes of production of corporate governance and public administration, projecting the country into an environment in which everything will be smarter and more connected: from public security to mobility, from environmental monitoring to health, tourism and culture, up to applications in the field of media, education and entertainment.