24.03.2021
5G standalone network for startups:Telefónica / O2 and Wayra Germany open 5G Tech Lab in Munich
The Wayra 5G Tech Lab now offers young founders and startups the opportunity to develop groundbreaking new 5G applications for consumers and industry.
Wayra Germany, the Open Innovation Hub of telecommunications group Telefónica Deutschland / O2, today opened its new 5G Tech Lab with state-of-the-art 5G standalone technology in Munich. The Wayra 5G Tech Lab now offers young founders and startups the opportunity to develop groundbreaking new 5G applications for consumers and industry. With its comprehensive technical equipment and easy accessibility for startups, the Lab is the first of its kind in Germany and thus absolutely unique.
Telefónica Deutschland / O2 is providing a high-performance 5G campus network for the 5G Tech Lab. While commercial 5G networks today still rely on the existing 4G infrastructure (= 5G Non-Standalone), Wayra and Telefónica Deutschland / O2 provide a local campus network that is purely based on 5G (= 5G Standalone). Only 5G Standalone offers the necessary short delay times and high data rates for new 5G-based applications such as mobile gaming or augmented and virtual reality to reach their full potential. Telefónica Deutschland / O2 uses local 3.7 GHz frequencies for the campus network, which the company has applied for and been allocated by the Federal Network Agency. As a result, the 5G Tech Lab can transmit 5G with 100 MHz of bandwidth - more than is available to any German network operator for its commercial 5G network.
- Wayra Germany, the Innovation Hub of Telefónica / O2, opens up access to state-of-the-art technology for startups to develop new 5G-based applications with its unique 5G Tech Lab
- Telefónica / O2 has built the first 5G standalone network in Munich for this purpose
- 5G network uses 3.7 GHz frequencies with 100 MHz bandwidth, which Telefónica / O2 acquired from the Federal Network Agency for the operation of a local campus network
- Kick-off for startups: Unmanned Life, Eyecandylab, Haltian and YBVR present 5G applications such as mobile gaming, augmented reality and autonomous drones
Telefónica / O2 and Wayra take 5G applications out of the lab and into the real world
Markus Rolle
"We are opening up access to a better, digital future for consumers, startups and industry with our connectivity solutions. With 5G, we are driving digitalization in Germany and paving the way for technological innovation," says Markus Rolle, CFO of Telefónica Deutschland / O2. "While we are intensively driving the roll-out of our nationwide O2 5G network and will provide more than 30 percent of the German population with 5G by the end of the year, we are additionally enabling companies to leapfrog into a new digital era at their production, logistics and research sites with our private 5G networks. With the new 5G Tech Lab, we are ensuring that, together with our Wayra Innovation Hub, we are at the forefront of the development of new 5G applications and business models. This investment is paying off: Together, we are taking new 5G applications for our customers out of the lab and into everyday life."
Florian Bogenschütz
Florian Bogenschütz, CEO of Wayra Germany and head of the new 5G Tech Lab, adds, "With the 5G Tech Lab, we are creating a place in the heart of Munich from which we will actively shape the digital future. We enable startups and founders to explore the possibilities of 5G technology and develop new applications with real added value for consumers and industry. Currently, there is no comparable infrastructure in Germany for startups that is so easily accessible and equipped to such a high technical standard. With our 5G Tech Lab, 5G applications can be tested live and transferred to commercial use in everyday life. In this way, we are creating space for real innovations. Together with Telefónica Deutschland / O2, we are ensuring '5G - Made in Munich'."
VR/AR, autonomous drones and digital twins: startups show 5G applications
The startup Haltian bank on IoT and smart building management
At the opening, various startups from the Wayra Innovation Hub demonstrated initial 5G showcases. The startup YBVR lets their users enter a tennis match live with the help of VR goggles and watch it from different angles. Startup Eyecandylab showed a platform for interactive streaming content that uses augmented reality to enhance the streaming experience - by superimposing other animated product and entertainment content over the screen in parallel with the video. The application also opens up new revenue models, for example through measurable and transactional TV advertising and new AR entertainment subscription services.
Startup Unmanned Life demonstrated the power of its Autonomy-as-a-Service software platform, which can control various fleets of autonomous drones and robots, harnessing the power of 5G, Artificial Intelligence and IoT for Industry 4.0 and Smart Cities. During the presentation, drones from the 5G Tech Lab were launched to perform an autonomous search and rescue mission at Unmanned Life's Brussels R&D Lab.
Startup Haltian showed a digital replica of an office building - a so-called digital twin - that uses IoT sensors to measure factors such as room temperature, air quality and movement in rooms in real time and display them in detail on a screen. The technology will be used in the future for smart building management of retail stores and open-plan offices.
Although the 5G standalone network is primarily a data-only network, the standard will also be able to be used with modern smartphones in the future.
5G Tech Lab now open to all interested startups
The Tech Lab is now open to all startups.
In addition to the private 5G standalone network, the Wayra 5G Tech Lab also has a public 5G non-standalone network (4G/5G) that all startups and O2 customers visiting the Lab can additionally use.
The Tech Lab is now open to all startups that want to develop or test relevant applications based on the 5G infrastructure. Interested startups can apply for a place in the Lab at Wayra Germany. All info on the 5G Tech Lab is available at: https://www.wayra.de/5g-tech-lab.
Telefónica Deutschland / O2 with extensive expertise in private 5G networks
With the 5G Tech Lab, the company is a pioneer within the global Telefónica Group
With the new 5G network in the Wayra 5G Lab, Telefónica Deutschland / O2 once again demonstrates its comprehensive expertise in planning, building and operating 5G connectivity solutions for enterprises. With the 5G Tech Lab, the company is a pioneer within the global Telefónica Group and Wayra organization, since further Wayra hubs will be transformed into hands-on technological labs soon.
Last year, Telefónica Deutschland / O2 already built a high-performance 5G campus network for the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Cars in Sindelfingen, which can efficiently network machines and production facilities. In December 2020, the company equipped the FLENS-ARENA in Flensburg with a 5G indoor network and, together with the TV broadcaster Sky, broadcast a sports event with 5G support live on linear TV for the first time in Europe - the handball match Flensburg-Handewitt against Göppingen. At Telefónica BASECAMP in Berlin, 5G has already been transmitting since March 2020. With the new 5G Tech Lab and many other 5G projects, the company is continuing to drive digital progress for consumers, business and society.