Orange’s 5G Service Goes Live in Romania

Orange – the telecommunication giant has created history on the 5th of November, 2019! Hand-in-hand with Samsung, as its one and only partner, has launched the 5G connectivity in Romania. The offers are attractive and exclusive !!

Orange has rightly chosen Bucharest in Romania as its launching helipad of 5G as it is a fast-evolving market of the world. Romania is also a treasure trove of valuable assets. With 115 MHz in the 3.4 – 3.6 GHz band the talked of the latest generation service has got a good motherland. The Orange 5G allows its clients to download data from the internet to compatible mobile at speed of up to 1.2 Gbps.

In what manner the 5G service will be launched in other European countries is still a mystery. Deputy CEO Ramon Fernandez remarked that the availability of the spectrum and the success of auctions will be the deciding factors for its launch in other countries. It will be almost the end of the year before anything will be announced.

Surprisingly, Orange has chosen Romania as its first country to launch 5G because it is a country that seldom attracts any headlines. However, the talk of the town is that Orange has tied up with Samsung as its exclusive partner.

Orange and Samsung have formed a symbiotic relationship. Samsung gadgets can only be sold by Orange and Orange 5G can only be run through Samsung. It is very surprising to see that the two companies have limited their potential in each other. On the other hand, one also understands that Orange in a market leader of 4G (about 40%) and Samsung is the device market leader (between 50 – 55%). Hence both of them will be ultimate gainers.

Deputy CEO Mari-Noelle Jego-Laveissiere On 5G (Video Source: Ion Vaciu)

The focus on Fixed Wireless Access(FWA) is the second interesting point. Orange is bold enough about its convergence ambitions. If it would have been any other country it would have been very natural but choosing Romania is interesting as it has no fixed asset. Orange has made a wholesale agreement with Telecom Romania which is not a very ideal situation.

Most other competitors are offering fiber service. Hence the 5G, FWA has a superior market. If Orange can deliver the high speed that it is promising, this will be in great demand by the consumers who are obsessed with high speed working of a gadget.

The final twist to the story goes against the telco. It is a very well known fact that the speed of the 4G network (60-90 Mbps) is very high. Even the most demanding customers could not make use of it, so by delivering a higher speed than the already high speeded 4G will there be enough buyers. It is uncertain as to the number of customers who would be liking to use that attractive and power puffed 1.2 Gbps download tariff is speed.

The attractive initial tariff is €25 for unlimited data. Orange TV, Deezer, and number sharing eSIM features across multiple devices have such an effective 4G network in Romania that it will become difficult for the 5G to gain spontaneous and widespread entry.

Another interesting element to be introduced very soon is the number sharing eSIM feature. It will be introduced across all data tariffs very soon. With a single bill, several devices can be connected simultaneously. At present this might be only between a smartphone and a wearable device but other products like cars and PCs managing the connectivity bill with a single number will become challenging.

Although many new features are being promised by Orange Romania, it is very interesting to count the number of new 5G consumers. 4G consumers are predominant here. One will wait and watch the changing scenario of the switching over to 5G from 4G because much is being promised about the speed up-gradation and new services to the consumers.

Deputy CEO Mari-Noelle Jego-Laveissiere commented that the purpose of 5G today is to show how the user experience can be enhanced. New services and new features in both the entertainment world and that of communication will be introduced. These promises make one understand that this was a glamorous launch of 5G.