Fujitsu launches private 5G network

Fujitsu is to start operating a private 5G network at its Shin-Kawasaki Technology Square office in Kawasaki City, just over a month after winning what it said is the first commercial 5G radio license from the Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications.

The Japanese ICT specialist is to use the non-standalone 5G network in the 28.2–28.3GHz frequency range to strengthen security in an area of 28,000 square meters at the site. It said it will create a system using artificial intelligence for the transmission of high-definition images collected by multi-point cameras. Furthermore, it has opened a collaboration lab to enable customers and partners to test private 5G use cases.

Fujitsu also intends to apply for commercial 5G licenses in other locations. For example, it aims to use a private 5G network to transform its Oyama manufacturing plant into a smart factory.

Campus networks and factory automation have long been touted as a big opportunity for 5G in the industrial sector. However, efforts by some regulators to reserve valuable spectrum for the enterprise market have not been popular with operators, as demonstrated in Germany. The GSMA has also gone as far as calling on governments to refrain from allocating spectrum directly to industry verticals. (See Telcos & Enterprises: 5G Friends or Foes? and GSMA: Don't give spectrum to enterprise.)

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Operators are themselves helping to build smart factories for enterprises, as illustrated by Telefónica Deutschland and Mercedes-Benz in Germany. However, operators have yet to fully determine the role they will play in the future operation of such 5G campus networks.

For its part, Fujitsu said private 5G network technology "promises to unlock numerous business applications in a variety of industries, such as accelerating the deployment of IoT in manufacturing, creating secure networks for seamless remote operations and enhancing surveillance at construction sites and medical facilities."

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— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading