TIM, Nokia and Qualcomm do some 5G stuff in San Marino

Do you remember when San Marino said it would be the first 5G country? Well they’ve only gone and done it.

It was almost a year ago that San Marino signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian telecoms group TIM to become a 5G guinea pig. Now that MoU has come to fruition, with the activation of the first 5G network hubs in San Marino, in partnership with Nokia and Qualcomm, which included a millimeter wave 5G mobile test device using the Snapdragon X50 modem.

“By the end of the summer the first mobile sites will be adapted to the new 5G radio interface, coinciding with the progressive introduction of small cells, small and low power antennas which, connected by fibre optic cable and located in various areas of the country, will provide performance levels unattainable with current technologies, and with minimum environmental impact,” said Cesare Pisani, TIM San Marino CEO, who is apparently not a fan of full stops.

“Today we have reached a new important milestone, which confirms TIM’s ability to be a leader in innovation processes in the sector, a role we also play at global level, contributing to establishing the 5G standard,” said Stefano Siragusa, TIM Chief Wholesales, Infrastructures, Network and Systems Officer. “By enabling new generation services in San Marino, we are looking forward to the future, paying particular attention to the development of innovative services related to public safety, transport, tourism and Industry 4.0 which enable the Smart City model”.

“The new applications developed thanks to 5G – pointed out Andrea Zafferani, Secretary of State for Industry with special responsibility for Telecommunications – will bring economic and social benefits to the whole community of San Marino and will put the Republic of San Marino in a unique position among European States in terms of both technological innovation and the efficiency and quality of services offered to tourists and citizens”.

“Thanks to 5G the Republic of San Marino will become a state-of-the-art tourist centre, with the new networks and services using Virtual Reality, our country will in fact become a pole of attraction for digital tourism as well, allowing a growing number of people to appreciate its architectural and cultural beauties, exploring them in an immersive mode, even remotely,” said Marco Podeschi, Secretary of State for Culture and Innovation, also showing a possibly endemic aversion to decisive punctuation.

While there will be some real utility to this San Marino experiment, this event seems to have been largely ceremonial for both the countries and the companies involved. Inwit and Olivetti also got a piece of the action as did a few other politicians. We’ve no doubt it all culminated in a great night out for all concerned.