In addition to its role as one of five anchor partners of the ENCQOR 5G program in Canada, CGI is involved in several other 5G initiatives in other geographies. In the UK, CGI has an active role with industry bodies and solution providers relating to the promotion and implementation of 5G technologies. What follows is an overview of some of these activities and the way they are influencing the development and rollout of 5G in the UK, and shaping the interactions between 5G and emerging technologies.
In February 2020, CGI has entered into a Memorandum of Intent with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and promote space-related 5G opportunities. ESA and CGI will focus on applications for rural communities, logistics and transport, public services, healthcare, environment and energy, creative industries and smart tourism. Both organisations will use their expertise to progress the development of 5G through demonstrations, user-pilots and technology development for hybrid terrestrial-space networks and spectrum management.
Moreover, the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently awarded CGI a contract to develop a tool kit to assist network operators in designing and optimizing 5G networks. The CGI-developed Carnot-Sat will enable accelerated delivery of 5G, reduce the cost of rolling out large scale and rural networks, and provide the ability to introduce new hybrid services for applications like connected cars, and wide area machine-to-machine/IoT systems leveraging inherent characteristics of satellite connectivity
CGI is also a member of the UK5G Innovation Network, a UK-wide ecosystem dedicated to the promotion of 5G technologies, driving research, development and collaboration activities.
5G has become one of the biggest catalysts for change in the history of the telecommunications industry and we are seeing it as a platform able to support customer-centric services and applications in the real world. As 5G continues its progress towards widespread adoption, initiatives such as the ENCQOR program and UK5G will continue to energize the public sector/private sector collaboration ecosystem, ensuring 5G’s long-term success.
For more information on CGI’s participation in the ENCQOR 5G program, please contact Peter A. Barnes (https://www.cgi.com/en/expert/peter-barnes)
Peter Barnes
Director, Director, Consulting Delivery, CGI