Article updated on November 18, 2020: Since Wednesday, November 18, Arcep (the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts) has authorized operators to use the 3,5 GHz frequency bands. But to move from theory to practice, there are a few checkboxes.
Orange therefore returned to the declaration of its boss Stéphane Richard who had declared on BFMBusiness the following words: “we will be able to have access to 5G from November 18 where obviously there are 5G antennas”. “5G will be available within a few weeks in the first cities. We are awaiting authorization to broadcast from ANFR”, corrected a spokesperson for the operator to our colleagues from 01net. The National Frequency Agency specifies that it will be "able to provide the first authorizations for commercial sites in the 3,5 GHz band from November 20".
The operators must also convince the mayors of the big cities in which 5G antennas are located, but some elected officials are wondering about the effects of the new standard on the health of the population but also on the environment.
Original article:
After long months of waiting and an endless frequency allocation process, 5G is becoming a reality in Spain. The promises surrounding this new mobile communication standard are numerous: speeds 10 to 100 times higher than for 4G, reduced latency, a more stable network, the arrival of new connected services, generalization of the cloud, access health care, without forgetting the automobile or the AI… But let it be said, a long way remains to be covered before arriving there.
- 5G: all the uses that will (really) change your daily life tomorrow
A two-step revolution
Coverage of the national territory will be done gradually. Except in a few rare metropolises, it will not be possible to take advantage of 5G when it is launched. The ANFR has authorized 462 antennas for the experiments, so we will have to wait until 2021 and certainly the second half of the year to hope for the best in this area. Orange has 345 5G sites, SFR 43 sites, Bouygues Telecom 65 sites and Free Mobile only 9 sites.
While this type of transition is quite logical for a new technology, the real question concerns the type of 5G that will be made available to customers.
Spain has chosen to deploy 5G on the 3,5 GHz frequency band, the latter offers a good compromise between signal speed and range, but it is not 5G that is supposed to revolutionize a whole section of the world. 'industry. For this, we will have to wait at least until 2024 with the arrival of millimetric 5G which offers the best performance based on the 26 GHz band. Uses should therefore not fundamentally change before this period, except perhaps for data management which will benefit from better bandwidth.
Anyway, if you want to take the plunge, know that two operators have presented their packages and that you need a compatible smartphone:
- 5G smartphones: here are all the compatible models available in Spain
Orange plans compatible with 5G:
- 70 GB at €39,99/month
- 100 GB at €49,99/month
- 150 GB at €64,99/month
- Unlimited GB at €94,99/month
Bouygues Telecom plans compatible with 5G:
- 60 GB at €41,99/month
- 90 GB at €48,99/month
- 120 GB at €69,99/month
Sensation Packages Smartphone Advantages
You still have to wait to take advantage of one of SFR's 5G plans:
- 5G: the new packages are also coming to SFR, from €40 / month?
Free confirms for its part that 5G will be available before the end of the year:
- Free: it's confirmed, 5G will be available before the end of the year
