Which telecom will implement 5G first in Poland? The ball is still in play

Mobile operators alternately heat the atmosphere and tone down emotions about 5G in Poland. Which telecom will be the first to implement such a true 5th generation network? The ball is still in play.

There is still a lot of time left for the commercial implementation of the 5G network in our country. It is true that last year PEM standards were raised , which will allow operators to modify the base stations on a large scale, but we are still waiting for the auction of frequencies in the 3400-3800 MHz range.

Networks such as T-Mobile and Orange are waiting for the outcome of this auction , although the latter boasts that it could now implement 5G throughout Warsaw. To do this, he would have to use the frequencies used by LTE in the capital today. However, Telekom decided that it did not make sense.

Plus and Play are of a different opinion and are now fighting for the title of the first Polish operator to implement 5G in Poland .

Of course, here too, we are talking about a 5th generation network running on frequencies used by LTE, and this type of connection will not provide all the 5G benefits of real events, but Plus and Play see this as an added value. They approach this issue in a slightly different way.

In the case of Play, base stations with 5G are already operating commercially in Tri-City. The operator used frequencies in the 2100 MHz range. Ultimately, the 5th generation network is to be launched in several cities , but we are still waiting for it. Another strategy has been chosen by Plus , which also wants to cover several cities .

5G from Plus will also start on frequencies reserved by LTE, but the telecom used a band other than Play.

In the case of Plus, the 2600 MHz network will be used, where today LTE with TDD (Time Division Duplex) support works. The Cyfrowy Polsat Group has a 50 MHz band here. At the same time, the operator wants to brag about "real progress" and not subsequent "tests", which he conducts quietly.

These advances are very measurable - right now devices have been installed on over 70 base stations that will provide coverage of the 5th generation network in several cities. Plus describes it as the "halfway point" of building its 5G in Poland. Now it is the turn of the last steps before implementation.

Just what about 5G smartphones and routers?

Recently circulated information that the new Samsung from the Galaxy S20 line should not support 5G in Plus and Play, turned out to be false, but the top phones of the Korean company are not enough for the construction of the 5th generation network makes sense. Of course, operators are aware of this.

Plus argues that in his laboratories, subsequent smartphones and routers "from several leading equipment manufacturers" are currently undergoing 5G tests in the 2600 MHz band. The operator emphasizes that he announced his plans related to it at the moment when his "internal preparations were completed positively".

Plus, however, I don't want to run flash tests.

This is, of course, a touch towards the competition, which focused on this 5G media aspect, even if there is nothing to brag about yet, and it will not soon have something. Plus at the same time emphasizes that its 5G will be an added value for customers from the very beginning and points its purple rival.

The green operator draws attention to the fact that in Play the 2100 MHz band will be shared between LTE and 5G using Spectrum Sharing technology. In the case of Plus, as explained by Piotr Szymanowski, Deputy Director of the Marketing Strategy Department, the 5th generation network will provide additional capacity.

That is why, although the Polish telecommunications market divided into two camps, Plus does not want to be thrown into one bag from Play.

At first glance, the situation looks like this: on the one hand, we have Orange and T-Mobile, i.e. companies that are waiting with the implementation of 5G for the result of the frequency auction, and on the other there are Plus and Play, who want to have a 5th generation network now based on the bands used by LTE. The devil is in the details.

In the case of Cyfrowy Polsat Group, the new generation network, although operating in the NSA (Non Stand Alone) standard, i.e. in cooperation with LTE, will be such an "additional lane" for Plus customers. This is not just a relocation of resources to another place, as is the case with the Play network.

Plus argues that this solution will be better than the competition proposal.

The operator does not exclude that he will decide to use Spectrum Sharing technology in the future, but this would be related to "the availability of subscriber equipment on the market and the analysis of the real usefulness of its implementation for users." In addition, as in the case of LTE, band aggregation will be important in 5G as well.

This means that the operator who already implements the 2600 MHz network today will be able to connect it to the network on a frequency that will be distributed only during the auction. As a result, it will be able to provide better coverage coverage than relying solely on the 3400-3800 MHz band.

5G in Plus - when will the start?

We don't know the exact date yet, but the operator is already on the last straight when it comes to implementing 5G in Poland. It will announce the arrival of a new generation network, however, only when it commercially launches the first base stations. The condition is that the terminals have terminals operating in this network, e.g. smartphones and routers.

Plus compares its approach to that presented by the competition, which boasted in recent months subsequent speed tests under controlled conditions. The green operator noted that some gave these events a "setting worthy of subsequent missions in the SpaceX project."

Instead of bragging about the test results that testers do not mean much from a customer perspective, Plus wants to wait for hundreds and thousands of customers to use the 5th generation network, followed by millions of customers. Only then will it be possible to assess whether the implementation of 5G in Poland was actually successful.

Which telecom will implement 5G first in Poland? The ball is still in play