Orange Belgium launches 5G in Antwerp – Tablets and phones – News

Orange Belgium starts offering 5G to its customers in Antwerp. The provider promises that more cities will follow in the near future. Orange offers 5G on the basis of temporary usage rights on the required frequency bands. This year the auction for 5G will take place.

Orange Belgium reports that after Antwerp it will serve customers in the Belgian coastal region and the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Leuven with a 5G offer† That will be available to all of the company’s postpaid customers, including hey customers, who own a device with support for 5G. Orange does not report what speeds customers can expect. The company does say the connection is “up to three times faster than current 4G broadband, with significantly reduced latency.”

Like Cegeka, Entropia, Proximus and Telenet, Orange has to make do with provisional rights of use for the 3600-3800MHz frequency band. As a result, coverage is limited for the time being. At the beginning of 2020, the telecom authority BIPT granted the user rights to the providers in order to ‘enable the first developments of 5G in this frequency band in Belgium’ in the run-up to the 5G auction. The operators must comply with the rules of the regional authorities for the installation of antennas and the existing radiation standards.

Orange reports that further expansion of the offer outside the mentioned cities will follow as the spectrum allocation and the evolution of radiation standards are further determined. The Belgian 5G auction will take place in June of this year Place. Providers can then bid anonymously on 20 years of spectrum use within the 700MHz, 900MHz, 1400MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz and 3600MHz frequency bands.

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