By Juan Pedro Tomás
Transatel, a subsidiary of NTT, announces the worldwide deployment of a new 5G IoT solution for the industrial, IT and automotive sectors.
The firm said that its offerings are commercially available in the US market after previous launches in France, Belgium and Japan. Other markets are expected to follow in the coming months, the company said.
NTT started to offer both private and public 5G connectivity in the US market on May 12.
“The Transatel SIM is already an integral part of the NTT enterprise focused Private 5G solution, giving NTT P5G customers the benefit of having a single SIM serving both their private network needs while also enabling global roaming for enterprises requiring this feature beyond factories and campuses.” said NTT’s EVP of new ventures and innovation, Shahid Ahmed.
The company said that field operations and distributed workforce will be the first to benefit from 5G broadband connectivity. SIM and eSIM compatible PCs, tablets and enterprise routers will now support data-intensive applications with reliability and fluidity, the firm said.
Edge computing and artificial intelligence-based applications such as Video Content Analysis (VCA), push-to-talk, as well as autonomous robots and vehicles require ever growing volumes of data and, according to the firm, the higher bandwidth and lower latency of public and private 5G connectivity addresses these new challenges while offering manufacturers new transformation and innovation opportunities.
In addition to the enterprises, Transatel’s 5G will also be available to consumers worldwide through its Ubigi brand which offers eSIM cellular connectivity for international travelers and connected cars.
Transatel is a global Mobile Virtual Network Operators Enabler (MVNE) and cellular connectivity solutions provider for the industry, IT and automotive sectors. Its global 3G/4G/5G and LTE-M connectivity platform enables IoT applications including sensors, trackers, mobile and enterprise edge devices, as well as connected vehicles and aircraft, worldwide. Transatel currently manages more than 3 million SIM and eSIM profiles across more than 190 destinations for customers such as Airbus, Stellantis, Worldline, and Jaguar Land Rover.
Earlier this week, NTT announced it is working with Albemarle Corporation, a specialty chemicals company, to deploy a pilot private LTE/5G and Wi-Fi network at Albemarle’s lithium mine in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
Albemarle needed a network that would allow its global engineers to connect with technicians for remote site surveys and assists. Previously, it was difficult for global engineers to visit Albemarle’s site due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, which significantly impacted the process of decision making and timing. The use of private LTE/5G will enable Albemarle to enhance its hybrid working process and reduce the amount of global travel needed to operate, NTT said.
Following the pilot in Kings Mountain, Albemarle plans to roll out the network to additional sites.
