Vodafone’s next-generation network goes live in locations in Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Galway and Waterford with additional locations planned in 2019
- Landmark announcement made as Vodafone Ireland creates a world first by connecting a simulation, tele-medicine and medical robotics training centre to 5G
The ASSERT Centre, UCC to become a Vodafone 5G global centre of IOT excellence for healthcare
Tuesday 13th August 2019: Vodafone Ireland in partnership with Ericsson, has today become the first mobile operator in Ireland to launch commercial 5G. Vodafone’s next generation network will not only provide faster speeds for customers but it is set to have a huge impact on technology use and adoption in nearly every industry across Ireland.
Live across locations in Cork, Limerick, Dublin, Galway and Waterford, Vodafone will continue expanding the network to further locations in Ireland over the coming months.
Furthermore, Vodafone has today announced a strategic partnership with the ASSERT Centre (Application of the Science of Simulation to Education, Research and Medical Technology) in University College Cork (UCC), making it the first 5G connected telemedicine and medical robotics training centre in the world.
The ASSERT Centre at UCC enables clinicians, industry and academics across a broad spectrum of healthcare research, to design, develop, deploy and trial innovative and disruptive healthcare solutions, in a simulated healthcare environment that deliver real world solutions for healthcare problems in the developed and developing world.
The ASSERT Centre showcases *real-time monitoring, *telemedicine, and *robotic surgery, integrated with wearable IoMT-based devices. This provides a consolidated ecosystem that truly digitizes healthcare to provide personalised, precise, predictive, participatory and timely healthcare that benefits patients, their care-givers, healthcare professionals and healthcare providers.
Today’s ground-breaking 5G announcement is set to revolutionise healthcare delivery across Ireland and the world, with ASSERT in Cork to become a Vodafone 5G global centre of IOT excellence for healthcare and end-to-end solution development.
Vodafone’s new 5G network consists of fully standardised Ericsson 5G, which is being deployed over Vodafone Ireland’s recently acquired 5G spectrum. Using Ericsson Radio System, this game-changing network will support many other new technologies – including artificial intelligence, the internet of things, connected cities and self-driving cars.
*5G Handsets
Vodafone Ireland bill pay customers have the option of purchasing a Huawei Mate 20X 5G in retail stores or online from tomorrow, 14th August or can pre-register for a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which is available to buy from 30th August. Customers can pre-register their interest for a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G handset in store or on www.vodafone.ie from 14th August. Vodafone is the first operator in Ireland to launch both 5G devices.
*5G Tariffs
You will need a 5G ready plan, 5G coverage and a 5G phone to connect to the Vodafone 5G network. All of our consumer RED Complete Plans and RED Business plans are 5G ready and range in price from an introductory offer of €25 euro per month for sim only and from €40 euro per month with a handset. *Handset pricing depends on choice.
Details on consumer 5G are available here https://n.vodafone.ie/network/5g.html and at https://n.vodafone.ie/en/business/why-choose-us/5g-for-business.html for business customers.
Once you have a 5G ready plan, simply visit us in-store, call us on 1907 or access web-chat online to request 5G.
Speaking at the event, Anne O’Leary, CEO of Vodafone Ireland said: “This is truly a historic occasion for everyone at Vodafone, for me personally and for the ASSERT Centre. As a business, we have spent the last 18 months preparing the groundwork for the launch of Ireland’s first commercial 5G network and today we begin our switch-on in locations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
5G is set to revolutionise how we use and adopt technology and will have a huge impact on businesses and society in Ireland. It will bring high speed, ultra-low latency and highly secure connectivity to a massive amount of devices; and is a technology that will unlock a vast array of new use cases through Vodafone’s next-generation network.
“I am incredibly proud to announce a new strategic partnership with the ASSERT Centre in UCC, Cork, a centre truly at the cutting edge of medical innovation. This is the first centre of its type in the world that will be connected to 5G. Through ASSERT, and its connection to Vodafone’s 5G network, surgeons can now train to use world leading technologies that will radically change our lives and deliver solutions to healthcare problems across the developed and developing world.”
Professor Barry O’Reilly, Director of ASSERT at University College Cork, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said” I am delighted to announce this strategic partnership. Vodafone Ireland has embraced the importance of this type of technology in healthcare innovation. 5G will revolutionize medicine with rapid connectivity of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). From advanced wearable technologies that will facilitate the care of patients at home, to immediate connectivity of new diagnostic technologies like handheld smartphone connected ultrasound between point of care and hospital specialists at for example a road traffic accident and an emergency department, to remote robotic surgery.
The ASSERT/ Vodafone strategic partnership will create a Global 5G incubator for the MedTech sector to test new technologies, assess 5G functionality and roll out to clinical trials providing that bridge between clinicians, research, innovation and the MedTech industry.”
John Griffin, Managing Director of Ericsson Ireland said:
“We work closely with our customers to be at the forefront of technology and we were the first to support the launch every generation of mobile technology in Ireland. We are therefore proud to support the first 5G launch too.
Ericsson has been investing in Ireland for 60 years. Our Research and Development centre in Athlone is still one of the biggest in the country, where they have currently developing key components of 5G networks and firmly putting Ireland on the map of 5G innovation.
By providing solutions for almost two-thirds of all commercially launched 5G networks spanning across 4 continents, Ericsson is leading the way for the next generation of connectivity”
