Focused on the future

In an auditorium filled to capacity, on Ericsson Nikola Tesla premises in Zagreb, the first demonstration of 5G technology in Croatia was held. At the same time, significant expansion of the company’s activities in the field of research and development was announced, revealing further intensive employment of experts in Croatia, namely on high added value jobs. Highest ranking government officials, headed by the President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković, attended the event named “Focused on the future”. Along with the Vice President of the Government Martina Dalić, Minister of Finance Zdravko Marić, Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Gabrijela Žalac and Minister of Science and Education Blaženka Divjak, the conference was attended by numerous other state officials, representatives from the political sphere, diplomatic corps, academia from Zagreb, Split and Osijek, The Croatian Employers' Association, as well as by the customers and partners of the company.

In her speech, the president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla Gordana Kovačević announced that the company assumed new responsibilities in the development of fifth generation of mobile communications and would expand its research and development activities from Zagreb and Split to Osijek as well. This is an investment that will result in new jobs for a substantial number of experts, and new Ericsson Nikola Tesla’s premises in Osijek will be, with all of the positive impacts, the best driver of technological, economic and social development of Slavonia. In the company’s R&D center, which is with its 1,300 employees the biggest center of such type in Croatia, there are already advanced technological solutions being created for the needs of customers from all over the world, so these new activities will additionally strengthen the position of Croatian and regional ICT leader on the map of global competitiveness.

Given the importance of 5G, which is not merely another new technology, but rather a technological infrastructure that brings new opportunities for everyone and opens collaboration opportunities in all parts of business, public and civil society, president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla expressed her immense satisfaction that for the first time in Croatia there has been a live demonstration of the system for the fifth generation of mobile networks (5G). Ms Kovačević especially highlighted there should be a national consensus related to the fast implementation of 5G and digital transformations. She suggested that 5G becomes one of the strategic projects on a national level and in this respect a more favorable investment environment is expected to be created for the development of future gigabit networks.

President of the Government Andrej Plenković expressed his satisfaction and commended Ericsson Nikola Tesla’s activities, highlighting the fact that they are in line with the Government’s ambitions which are aimed at economic growth, new jobs, boosting competitiveness of Croatian companies as the key to stopping the emigration of the youth and stimulating demographic renewal and revitalization of the country. Opening company’s premises in Osijek is a step toward the revitalization of the economy in Slavonia, which also is the goal of the Government’s great Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem project through a private investment that combines the potential of the University of Osijek with a company that is a leader in the field of ICT. This is yet another step towards an encouraging environment of excellence and competitiveness, as well as additional momentum for Slavonia strategic project in the foundation of which is the creation of new jobs in the industries of the future. With regard to the technology, he welcomed new possibilities brought by 5G and pointed out that working on connected devices was extremely important and brought undreamed-of possibilities for the industry and economy. President of the Government emphasized that the state and the system as a whole should adapt quickly to the global changes within the fourth industry revolution.

Only a month after the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where it was confirmed that 5G was ready for use, in Ericsson Nikola Tesla, a state-of-the-art technology working in microwave area was demonstrated, whose wider use in Europe is expected only after 2020, which will, according to experts’ forecasts, fundamentally change many industry processes, end users’ communication possibilities and the society at large.

The configuration consisting of a radio station and two terminals clearly shows the increase of the capacity of the system equipped with multi-user technology with multiple receive and transmit antennas (MIMO) and a stable data transfer rate of over 20 Gbps was demonstrated simultaneously with video transfer of ultra-high definition (4K). In practice, this implies that a larger number of users, even in rural areas or, for example, on islands, will be simultaneously provided with mobile communication capacities, which are nowadays available only through optical infrastructure in urban areas.

An essential feature of 5G technology is also low latency in the network, which enables new applications of wireless technology. This is especially important in the Internet of skills domain in cases of remote utilization as well as for placing real-time applications in the cloud.  Since Ericsson is one of global pioneers in 5G technology and standardization, the shown demo system is performed on hardware with the use of components that are already available on the global market, with appropriate software enhancements, which should enable easier and faster putting of 5G networks to commercial use.

Communications Ericsson Nikola Tesla