Vodafone’s new 5G network will not only provide faster speeds for customers but is set to have a huge impact on technology use and adoption in most industry verticals across Ireland.
In addition, Vodafone Ireland also announces a strategic partnership with the Application of the Science of Simulation to Education, Research and Medical Technology (ASSERT) Centre in University College Cork (UCC), making it the first 5G connected telemedicine and medical robotics training centre in the world.
“This is truly a historic occasion for everyone at Vodafone, for me personally and for the ASSERT Centre,” said Anne O’Leary, CEO of Vodafone Ireland. “As a business, we have spent the last 18 months preparing the groundwork for the launch of Ireland’s first commercial 5G network and today we begin our switch-on in locations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.”
The ASSERT Centre at UCC enables professionals and academics across healthcare research to develop, test and deploy new healthcare solutions. In addition, The ASSERT Centre showcases real-time monitoring, telemedicine and robotic surgery, integrated with wearable Internet of Medical Things (IoMO)-based devices.
“I am incredibly proud to announce a new strategic partnership with the ASSERT Centre in UCC, Cork, a centre truly at the cutting edge of medical innovation,” added O’Leary. “This is the first centre of its type in the world that will be connected to 5G. Through ASSERT, and its connection to Vodafone’s 5G network, surgeons can now train to use world leading technologies that will radically change our lives and deliver solutions to healthcare problems across the developed and developing world.”
Today’s 5G announcement is set to revolutionise healthcare delivery across Ireland and the world, with ASSERT in Cork to become a Vodafone 5G global centre of IoT excellence for healthcare and end-to-end solution development.
”I am delighted to announce this strategic partnership. Vodafone Ireland has embraced the importance of this type of technology in healthcare innovation. 5G will revolutionise medicine with rapid connectivity of the Internet of Medical Things,” said Professor Barry O’Reilly, director of ASSERT at University College Cork, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. “From advanced wearable technologies that will facilitate the care of patients at home, to immediate connectivity of new diagnostic technologies like handheld smartphone connected ultrasound between point of care and hospital specialists at for example a road traffic accident and an emergency department, to remote robotic surgery.”
Vodafone’s new 5G network consists of standardised Ericsson 5G, which is being deployed over Vodafone Ireland’s recently acquired 5G spectrum. Using Ericsson Radio System, the network will support many other new technologies - including artificial intelligence, the internet of things, connected cities and self-driving cars.
“We work closely with our customers to be at the forefront of technology and we were the first to support the launch every generation of mobile technology in Ireland. We are therefore proud to support the first 5G launch too, added John Griffin, managing director of Ericsson Ireland. “Ericsson has been investing in Ireland for 60 years. Our Research and Development centre in Athlone is still one of the biggest in the country, where they have currently developing key components of 5G networks and firmly putting Ireland on the map of 5G innovation. By providing solutions for almost two-thirds of all commercially launched 5G networks spanning across 4 continents, Ericsson is leading the way for the next generation of connectivity”
