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Monaco can boast of being the first country fully covered by the 5G network, thanks to Huawei. Behind this announcement of the principality hides a 4G network increasingly saturated, a step towards the Chinese giant that Europe is watching closely but also the ambition to appear as a high place of digital likely to attract businesses and investment funds.
This is the first country fully covered by 5G, and it does not hesitate to say, with a launch in a luxury five-star hotel in Monte Carlo, an omnipresent logo and leaders who give their violins to brag about. choir a principality ready for the next digital revolution.
But with a territory of just over 2 km2, it was easy for Monaco to be first in the race for the 5G launched last September, when Prince Albert went to China to sign a contract with the CEO of Huawei , Ren Zhenfei. Ten months later, 23 new antennas were placed on the rock of Monaco and 5G compatible phones of the Chinese brand are available in Monaco Telecom stores.
A 4G that begins to saturate, says one in Monaco
If the principality rather known for its jet set and its casinos wanted to anticipate this world race with the 5G, it is because it estimates that the 4G began to show its limits. Year after year, smartphones are being used for more and more uses, more and more photos and videos are being exchanged and the network is starting to be saturated in this small country with one of the highest densities of inhabitants in the world. world.
Frédéric Genta, interministerial delegate in charge of the digital transition of the Principality of Monaco, takes the example of the famous Monaco motor racing to demonstrate: " If we look at the Monaco Grand Prix, we see that every year, is almost 50% more data than you carry. And we saw this year that within two years maximum, the 4G would not be enough to support the uses that are requested by people. "
The ambition of a Smart City
But the 5th generation is not only a response to a future saturation, it is also the promise of new technologies, says Frédéric Genta, with ever more superlatives: " 5G is the technology of" at least ten times". At least ten times faster, and some say 100 times, at least ten times more possibilities to connect objects. Many say that 5G will be in the 21st century what electricity was in the 19th century. "
" Where all previous generations connected people," he says, "5G connects all of our digital lives like health, transportation, energy, the media. But today this city of the future described by Frederic Genta is not yet quite there; the autonomous shuttle offered by the principality still operates at 4G, the mail is not yet delivered by drone, and hospitals do not operate yet remotely.
A very diplomatic launch
More than technological, therefore, the issue of 5G Monaco seems to remain for the moment mainly diplomatic and economic. The grand launch was a way for the Chinese Huawei to reassure its 28 European trading partners by showing that Monaco trusted him to the end, and for French operators, the principality is also guinea pig. Free boss Xavier Niel was present as the majority shareholder of Monaco Telecom.
Before Monaco, Lesotho had already served as guinea pig
Monaco thus plays the game of experimentation, easy with its very limited territory. A strategy to which other micro-states can also lend themselves, with the example of Lesotho on the African continent. Last year, operator Vodacom chose this landlocked state in South Africa for a full-scale test with the 500 employees of the Central Bank of Lesotho and the mining company Lets'eng as a guinea pig.
In Africa, 5G could allow access to very high speed by ignoring optical fiber that requires running kilometers and miles of cables.