The first country in Orange’s portfolio to launch next-generation mobile network services in Romania. Romanian cities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, and Iasi, are the main cities where  Orange launched 5G services with other cities to follow in the coming months.

In the beginning, the Orange 5G network will offer an average speed of 600Mbps with top speeds of around 1.2Gbps. As it acquires more spectrum and densifies its network, Orange has promised to increase the speed. An interesting element introduced is the number sharing eSIM feature. With a single bill, several devices can be connected simultaneously. At present this is 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.

Ramon Fernandez, CEO Delegate of Orange in charge of Finance, Performance, and Europe said that he was very happy that, being one of the most dynamic telecoms markets in Europe, Romania is the first country within the global footprint to have achieved this important milestone. He also added that Orange Romania was important for them, both in terms of investments and driving innovation. They have invested more than 3.5 billion euros since they entered the market. Today’s 5G launch, along with innovations like eSIM and Number Sharing, will serve as key use cases for further development. This will enhance the Group’s ambitions to deliver an unmatched experience to the customers as Orange begins their migration towards the next generation of networks.

The network will offer internet download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps and an average download speed of 600 Mbps. It will also deliver a complete package of premium services. The gadgets have been devised and designed to enhance the 5G experience for customers including unlimited internet over 9 GB mobile roaming within the EU, unlimited voice calls and SMS facilities both nationally and in roaming.

Orange Romania has significantly involved itself in Europe ‘s Horizon 2020 research and development projects: MATILDA, Slice Net, 5G-EVE and 5G-VICTORI. It is also contributing to the standardization and development of 5G technology. Other than Romania, Ericsson and Orange Polska launched a 5G test network in Warsaw, Poland which includes nine sites in the Warsaw district of Ochota and Powisle.

In August 2019 the telecom had announced that its operation in France is in the “pre-commercial phase”, and the Orange is gradually introducing 5G on existing 4G sites throughout the country.

In July 2019 Romania’s first 5G commercial service was launched by pay-tv and DIGI, a fixed internet provider, in several parts of Bucharest. DIGI introduced Ericsson ‘s 3GPP standards-based 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software on top of its 4G network. This has allowed the customers to connect to both 4G and 5G simultaneously and get the best possible experience even in a very crowded locality.

There are over 62 million 4G Orange customers across the world and will be looking ahead to key 5G launches in its home market of France, as well as Belgium and Spain, in 2020.

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.