The government in Taiwan is expected to issue operating licenses for 5G private networks to qualified enterprise applicants in 2022, and related players are stepping up preparations to embrace upcoming business opportunities, particularly from smart manufacturing and smart healthcare applications, according to industry sources.
Taiwan's National Communication Commission (NCC) is slated to release a set of rules and service rates governing 5G private networks for enterprises in the first half of next year before starting releasing licenses to approved applicants, the sources said.
Based on a NCC proposal approved by the cabinet in December 2019, the government has assigned the 4.8-4.9GHz frequency band as the dedicated enterprise network spectrum for field experiments by applicants from all sectors during 2021-2022, the sources indicated, adding that 2022 will be the starting year for enterprises to get operating licenses for 5G private networks.
5G networks featuring high bandwidth, high speed, low latency and wide coverage are suitable for a wider variety of vertical market applications than the previous generations of mobile communications networks. This will promise huge business opportunities including those from 5G enterprise private networks, prompting tech players and telecom operators to actively brace for the upcoming 5G private network boom, the sources noted.
Mike Yang, president of Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), said the company is undergoing a POC (proof of concept) process with its clients in Taiwan and Japan for its 5G private enterprise network solutions and expects shipments of the solutions to ramp up in 2022.
Yang also disclosed that QCT will showcase diverse end-to-end solutions after its 5G lab becomes operational by the end of 2021, and will also team up with system integrators and software and hardware vendors to jointly explore business opportunities for 5G private networks.
Compal Electronics is also set to roll out 5G enterprise network solutions for the segments of manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment and healthcare by integrating 5G NR RTAN architecture and Cisco's core networking technology, the industry sources said.
Compal recently has partnered with Nvidia to build a metaverse architecture for the enterprise segment, and the metaverse will be built using Compal's XR Cube solution and Nvidia's CloudXR technology, supporting a variety of VR/AR devices and based on the OpenVR standard, the sources continued.
Meanwhile, telecom operators such as Far EasTone Telecommunications are also actively proceeding with related deployments. Far EasTone now cooperates with Delta Electronics and Microsoft in offering 5G-based smart factory solutions, and also teams up with local hospitals to provide 5G private network solutions.
Article translated by Willis Ke
