SES Confirms Commitment to 5G Development and Manifesto

SES made its endorsement of the “5G Manifesto for Timely Deployment of 5G in Europe.” The document and industry recommendations on 5G will be discussed at the meeting of the European Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger with the CEOs of the leading telecommunications and infrastructure companies in Brussels.

The 5G Manifesto intends to foster effective interactions and collaboration with industry verticals, the formation of ecosystems as a result of large-scale demonstrators and an investment-centric policy framework – bringing together the key levers to ensure European digital leadership in 5G and beyond.

“SES strongly believes in Europe’s potential to become the global leader in 5G, permitting the enablement of economic growth, sustainability and high-quality jobs. Synergy of the key stakeholders is essential for successful deployment of 5G, and satellite is a key building block for a global, profitable and inclusive 5G deployment. Thus communication satellites will play a core role in the deployment and accessibility of 5G,” said Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO of SES. “Being a founding member of the European 5G Public Private Partnership and one of the main contributors of the industry effort to define a 5G Action Plan, today we further confirm our willingness to support the coordinated deployment of this advanced connectivity infrastructure.”

Ahead of the meeting, Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, said, “I very much welcome the 5G Manifesto and discussions today with the high-level industry group. These will help us focus on the key levers to ensure European digital leadership in 5G. I will come forward with a 5G Action Plan in the autumn.”

Once deployed, 5G will be the key enabler for the digitalisation of the European economy, accommodating the diverse connectivity needs of industrial applications such as high speed, low latency, resilience and ubiquity. 5G networks will serve a broad range of industries, especially the automotive, transportation, healthcare, energy, manufacturing and media and entertainment sectors.

To provide further global and scalable next generation connectivity, SES has invested in high throughput Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites and O3b’s Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. The combination of GEO’s high-powered global coverage and MEO’s low latency capabilities will accelerate the 5G deployment.