TPG Telecom opens its first innovation lab

TPG Telecom has opened an innovation lab in inner-Sydney that will act as a testbed for ‘emerging 5G-related technologies’.

Executive general manager of mobile and fixed networks Barry Kezik said in a statement that the lab “comprises an onsite data centre and rooftop mobile site, allowing vendors to partner with TPG Telecom to accelerate the adoption of solutions including vRAN, mobile edge computing, mobile private networks and Open RAN.”

RAN stands for radio access network and refers to the network infrastructure used for mobile base stations.

Kezik said the lab is the “first of its kind” for TPG Telecom. The first vendor partner to use it will be Samsung.

“This is an incredibly exciting new initiative that will allow us to explore end to end cloud native 5G infrastructure and unleash the full potential of 5G in driving industry digitisation and automation,” Kezik said in a statement.

“Not only will this allow us to evaluate innovations in 5G network infrastructure to deliver better customer experience with lower cost, the real potential here is to unlock 5G’s high throughput and ultra low latency capabilities for industry verticals.

“We are talking about utilising augmented reality and virtual reality for smart training, low latency remote control for mining and transportation, and smart city applications in collaboration with artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

Kezik added that TPG would use the lab to “benchmark and understand the potential return on investment of different vendor radio technology through onsite trials.”

“Having the ability to partner and trial different radio technology with different vendors within the innovation lab allows for greater ease in benchmarking performance,” he said.