O2 Slovakia launches 5G roaming in 9 additional countries ⋆

O2 Slovakia launches 5G roaming in 9 additional countries

O2 Slovakia has launched 5G roaming services in nine additional states, reports Zive.aktuality.sk. The services have become available in Austria, Poland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Canada, Kuwait, Iceland and the UAE. o2 slovakia 5g roaming coverage

Specifically, clients can use it in Austria (A1), Poland (Plus), but also in Belgium (KPN, Belgacom), France (Bouygues Telecom), Luxembourg, Canada (Bell), Kuvajte (STC), (Tango SA), in Iceland (Nova) and the United Arab Emirates (Etisalat).

In addition, a new 5G roaming partner has been added in Bulgaria (Telenor) and Finland (Elisa).

On September, 5G networks were made available in the Czech Republic (O2), Bulgaria (Vivacom), Thailand (AWN), Denmark (Telia), Estonia (Telia), Finland (Telia), Lithuania (Telia), Norway (Telia) and Sweden (Telia).

So far, it is the only Slovak operator with 5G roaming support abroad but Telekom also plans to launch it.

At present, the majority of commercially available 5G services are delivered over NSA (Non-standalone) networks, which are based on 4G infrastructure, Juniper reports. Whilst there are international 5G roaming agreements currently in place, Juniper believes that operators are reluctant to establish such agreements until the roll-out of SA (Standalone) networks become more widespread. Operators with 5G roaming agreements in place will need to make contingencies for SA networks; ensuring interoperability between the two network architectures. This has the potential to be a costly endeavor for operators.

The majority of operators currently offering 5G services are reliant on NSA networks, which are built using a 4G LTE core. Operators who have successfully deployed SA 5G networks include Proximus in Belgium, DirecTV in Colombia, Singtel in Singapore, China Telecom in China, Rogers in Canada, and Vodafone in Germany.

It also expands 5G availability in Slovakia o2 slovakia 5g roaming coverage

The 5G network from O2 is available in Slovakia for the majority of Bratislava’s inhabitants (including parts of Jarovce and Rusovce) and is also in the towns of Pezinok and Modra. The network also covers the villages of Ivanka pri Dunaji, Zálesie, Malinovo, Bernolákovo, Chorvátsky Grob, Slovenský Grob, Viničné, Šenkvice and Dubová.

By the end of December, the operator wants to cover about 20 percent of the population. o2 slovakia 5g roaming coverage