Every generation of mobile networks brings increased speed, and 5G will be no exception. From several minutes, at best, over 4G, the time required to download a full HD movie will plummet to a few seconds, according to Peter Sodermans, co-ordinator of the Digital Luxembourg  infrastructure group.

However, he argues that the most important benefit of 5G will be a sharp reduction in latency, from around 50 milliseconds now to less than 1 millisecond for ultra-reliable low latency communications – critical for certain groundbreaking business applications such as autonomous vehicles, for which every millisecond counts.

Sodermans says 5G will offer a wholly new experience. For the first time, users will enjoy nearly unlimited and continuously available internet access.

Another important consequence of 5G will be a major reduction in energy use. Its virtually unlimited capacity will enable the long-awaited and massive roll-out of the Internet of Things, with literally billions of devices permanently connected to the internet and able to communicate with each other.

What will this new technology mean for Luxembourg, and how is the country preparing for its implementation? Earlier this year the Digital Luxembourg infrastructure group launched a consultation with the Grand-Duchy’s major stakeholders impacted by 5G, including the regulator, mobile network operators, academics, technology companies, consultants and IoT providers.

Taking the bilateral consultations as a starting point, a 5G sub-group was established and first met for a seminar in July to start mapping out Luxembourg’s 5G eco-system.

“The consultations show that concerns exist with regard to spectrum availability, operational issues such as the planning procedures relating to 5G multibeam, and return on investment given the significant increase in the number of base stations required compared with 4G, ” Sodermans says.

He warns that it’s not yet clear whether consumers are willing to pay substantially more for the extra services available through 5G. Meanwhile, mobile network operators with three existing networks to manage – 2G, 3G and 4G – face added complexity with the addition of a 5G footprint.

“On the other hand, these concerns may prompt network operators to co-operate in a different way from what they have done up to now, ” Sodermans says. “Sharing a radio access network may be gaining commercial traction in Luxembourg, too.”

Business models are likely to evolve as entrepreneurs enter the industry and launch new services and businesses. “Consumers may start becoming producers themselves, and there will be room for some kind of middleware delivering information, ” he says.

As entrepreneurs move in to develop new services and brokers develop verticals, how will the position of network operators evolve, and how much of the new revenue streams can they hope to capture? The infrastructure group consultation indicated that operators do not anticipate an immediate mass roll-out of 5G technology, but rather the development of experimental hubs and trials with private-sector partners.

Nevertheless, Sodermans argues that Luxembourg has all the digital pillars in place to make a success of this experimentation process: a long-standing fibre-to-the-home programme; SES’s global satellite communications system; and the country’s position as an international low latency hub with most global Tier 1 network providers operating a point of presence in one or more of Luxembourg’s 24 carrier-neutral data centres.

Together with the country’s well-developed research facility at the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, all the elements are in place to make the experimentation phase a success over the next two to three years, followed with a first deployment. “Luxembourg will prove fertile ground for new products and services, world-class demonstrations as well as entrepreneurship, but ultimate success depends on our ability to stimulate demand, ” he says.

Testing of 5G technology is already underway elsewhere, particularly in China, but full commercial deployment is unlikely before 2022 – and Luxembourg intends to be in the forefront of the revolution when it comes.

Claude Rischette, head of the frequencies department at Luxembourg’s telecoms regulator ILR, was a speaker at July’s sub-group seminar, detailing the spectrum-based challenges and opportunities relating to 5G deployment. Some European countries are already allocating radio spectrum bandwidth for 5G services, although no standards or specifications have yet been agreed, nor concrete plans for commercial deployment drawn up.

However, some of the potential benefits for Luxembourg-based organisations are clear. At the seminar, speakers including Alexander Geurtz, vice-president for strategic business innovation at SES, and Sina Maleki, a research associate at the university’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, discussed the integration of satellite communication systems with terrestrial 5G networks.

Christian Tock, director of sustainable technologies at the Ministry of the Economy, examined the role of 5G in creating a cross-border automated driving testbed – a project now gaining momentum following a co-operation agreement between Germany, France and Luxembourg signed on September 14.

The practical benefits offered by 5G technology may lie in the future, but already Luxembourg’s technology leaders are at work mapping its deployment – and its role in a smart economy for the benefit of companies and citizens alike.