Italian telco Fastweb has teamed up with Swedish vendor Ericsson to oversee ‘Genova 5G’, a connectivity project which will take place in the Porto Antico area of Genoa. Over the coming months, 5G technology will be used to support initiatives spanning surveillance, environmental monitoring and ‘Smart City’ solutions.
TeleGeography notes that Fastweb participated in Italy’s EUR6.6 billion (USD7.6 billion) 5G auction in October last year, acquiring a 200MHz block of spectrum in the 26GHz band for EUR32.6 million. In a parallel development, the telco acquired 40MHz of spectrum in the 5G-suitable 3.5GHz band as part of a EUR198 million takeover of Tiscali’s fixed-wireless business.
Fastweb notes that the two acquisitions mean that it has ‘completed its 5G spectrum portfolio’ and the telco is now making plans to deploy 5G technology in the country’s main cities.