TIM identified a range of pilot projects that are designed to show 5G’s potential to galvanise the Italian economy.

Projects include logistical tracking of luxury goods; solutions dedicated to mobility of goods within ports; cloud robotics for 5G enabled manufacturing; broadband services applied to automotive sector; management and remote monitoring of health parameters; and immersive video services enablement.

The Italian operator is working with Ericsson, as well as the country’s industry, public sector, leading universities, research centres, local authorities and SMEs on what it has dubbed 5G for Italy, giving it the flavour of a national project.

The idea is to identity the kind of 5G-based applications and services that can serve the economy from 2020 onward.

Mario Di Mauro, head of strategy & innovation with TIM, said: “This program allows us to develop the new network simultaneously to those services and applications that in the near future will be enabled by 5G for the digital transformation needs of Italian companies and the development of a new multi-media communication for the consumers.”

“It is an important milestone that will transform the society with new business models and will enable citizens and businesses to leverage on 5G potential”, he added.