At the beginning of February Orange began the deployment of real 5G, also called 5G SA or Stand Alone. It initially did so in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia, but by the end of the month, coinciding with the first semester, the operator promises to reach 30 Spanish locations.
The arrival of 5G+, the trade name that Orange has given to Stand Alone, represents the real leap in quality to make the most of everything that the fifth generation of mobile networks has to offer.
Advantages of 5G SA
Until now, most of the 5G networks that we enjoyed in Spain were of the 5G NSA (non stand alone) type, a transition specification between 4G and 5G that has given us more speed and better mobile services, but that does not squeeze everything. the potential of the fifth generation of mobile networks.
Since the beginning of the commercial deployment of 5G SA, with Orange being a pioneer last February under the commercial name 5G+, a series of advantages have been observed that both individuals and companies will take advantage of.
- Better indoor coverage, thanks to the use of native 5G bands.
- Low latency, which will positively influence services for which this requirement may be very relevant: online gaming, live video streaming, etc.
- Longer terminal battery life, due to less signaling required and the deployment of network functionalities that also favor better energy efficiency.
- Greater number of connected devices allowing up to 1 million connections per km2, which represents 10 times more than the capacity of existing technologies.
- Greater security: the 5G+ network incorporates more advanced security mechanisms, such as IMSI (SUCI) encryption.
5G+ coverage expansion
Orange began its journey in the deployment of 5G SA with only 5 large cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia), although it promised rapid expansion. This is going to materialize in the first half of the year with the arrival in around thirty towns.
After the initial deployment, 5G+ reached provincial capitals such as Alicante, Castellón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, Valladolid or Zaragoza. In addition, other towns with a high population density such as Alcorcón and Leganés, in Madrid, also have 5G+ connectivity; or Badalona, Hospitalet, Sabadell, Sant Adrià de Besós or Santa Coloma de Gramanet, in Barcelona.
The orange operator promises that by the end of the month it will also have a real 5G presence in A Coruña, Badajoz, Barakaldo, Cádiz, Huelva, Jaén, Logroño, Málaga, Pamplona, Vigo and Vitoria. In this way, close to 30% of the population in Spain will have access to the advanced capabilities of 5G+ in June and in all these towns or capitals it is carried out with a coverage of more than 80% of the total population.
Up to 120 GB free
Either to celebrate this expansion or simply as a summer promotion, the fact is that Orange’s prepaid customers will have extra gigabytes. This applies to both Go rate users and world SIMs with free international calls.
The orange operator increases the gigabytes of all its rates automatically until September 30, 2023. For Go rates, they add an extra 25 GB in the rates of 10 and 15 euros, while they increase 120 GB in the rate of 20 euros . For the Mundo rates, the rate of 10 euros increases by 30 GB, and the rates of 15 and 20 euros increase by 50 GB free.
It would be surprising if there were no improvements in the next few days also in the contract rates, so we will be alert to any changes.
