Vodafone challenge rivals first pre-commercial 5G core network - Vodafone Spain has announced the deployment of the first pre-commercial core 5G SA (stand alone) network in Spain, following the progressive and selective deployment in business and industrial environments of 5G SA networks in 2020, and after being the first company to launch the commercial 5G network in Spain in June 2019.

The difference of this stand alone network is that it does not share infrastructure with other 4G facilities. At the moment, although the operators are offering 5G connections there is part of the network that still has technology from the previous networks. This new network that Vodafone announces its deployment would be totally 5G so it could achieve higher connection speeds and reduce latency (response time).

Being completely independent of 4G will allow the network to support new features such as Network Slicing, which reduces latency to 10 milliseconds, conditions that reduce to a minimum the time it takes to reach the signal and will facilitate in the future advances such as remote surgery, automation, control of production processes or work connected through extended reality.

Vodafone challenge rivals first pre-commercial 5G core network

Also, the company has stressed that the batteries of the' smartphone ' 5G will be more efficient once connected to these networks.

"The 5G SA network represents a paradigm shift, as it enables new capabilities that will be key to the creation of future Industry 4.0 applications and use cases. This deployment is a great step towards real-time connectivity," said Julia Velasco, network director of Vodafone Spain in a statement.

Vodafone challenge rivals first pre-commercial 5G core network

Vodafone was the first operator to launch the commercial 5G network in Spain in June 2019 and in 2020 made several selected and progressive deployments in industrial environments of these 5G SA networks.

Vodafone challenge rivals first pre-commercial 5G core network

More news:

The trade starts the sales with a moderate halo of hope: the employers speaks of "slight" reactivation in the middle of the debacle of the textile sector and boom of the 'e-commerce'

In a context marked by the unprecedented rise of online commerce, users seem to have found in the physical point a point of disconnection. So much so that for 74% of Spaniards it has been "liberating" to be able to buy in person instead of online, according to a study by Sensormatic.

This halo of optimism that would help overcome, once and for all, the impact of COVID-19 on trade is shared by the Spanish Confederation of Trade (CEC). The employer, according to Efe, anticipates that the volume of sales for the sales campaign that begins to a greater extent the next day 24 in the sector of fashion and footwear will be reactivated with respect to last year.

The employers, however, stresses that the improvement will be "slight" compared to the 2020 campaign and warns that it will be far from the 2019 figures. Thus, the turnover could still fall between 20% and 30 % with respect to that year.

In addition, if the fashion sector is attended, this part of a complex situation: closed 2020 with a turnover of 10,619 million euros in the year of the pandemic, which means a fall of 41.26% compared to the previous period. In addition, the sector has lost 26,700 jobs and has led to the closure of 14,800 stores, according to Acotex.

Returning to the CEC, it remains critical with the indeterminate schedule of the beginning of the discounts, since the liberalization of 2012. Each store and chain starts its discounts when it deems appropriate and therefore, the employer questions the impact of the campaign on consumption. The organization believes that the increase in sales will be linked to the relaxation of restrictions, greater mobility and the advance of vaccination.

July 1 was the starting signal for the start of the summer sales campaign. Something that already looks distant: Decathlon, H & M, Mango, Springfield, Tendam (Cortefiel) have already started several discounts. This is also the case of the marketplaces Amazon and AliExpress that celebrate at the end of this month specific days in which their users can access specific offers.

For their part, El Corte Inglés, Primark or the brands of the textile giant (Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe) will wait until Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to start their respective discount campaigns and they will do so both in their digital platforms and in the physical points.

The outbreak of the pandemic and therefore the confinement turned the digital channel into a real oxygen balloon to cushion, as far as possible, the economic impact of COVID-19. And given this forced situation it seems that Spain is the country that has best managed to capitalize on the opportunity.

In fact, a survey conducted by global consultancy McKinsey and Company confirmed that online sales in Spain had increased almost 5 times during the epidemic. It was, therefore, a much higher pace than what happened in other countries, even above China, baptized, and with reasons, as the cradle of e-commerce.

Google, for its part, also attests to this above. During 20202, the domestic market had increased its sales by 41%. This increase placed the national territory above key countries such as the United States (29.4%), the United Kingdom (29.1%) or Germany (14.4 %).

Regarding the forced question of whether this digital acceleration comes to stay the answer is yes, at least in part. The company's estimate was that between 35% and 45% of the growth in Spain will be consolidated once the pandemic is over.

In fact, the start of the year, even with physical commerce already recovering its activity, the online channel remains intact, especially in the textile sector. According to data from the affiliate network Admitad Affiliate, until April, the number of online sales in fashion rebounded by 73% over the same period last year.