Ericsson and Free in Senegal have collaborated to demonstrate immersive 5G experiences at the Free Senegal Innovation Xperience (FIX) ceremony held on June 2, 2022. The selected demos include Music Connect, Connected Healthcare, Connected Vehicles and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) for smart homes, primarily focused on the role of 5G in enabling a more intelligent society. The demos also highlight the role of connectivity and cellular technology in driving digital transformation for consumers and industries across Senegal.
By visualizing artists spread across various locations playing together in harmony, the Music Connect demo showed how 5G can provide enriching experiences across distances. The Connected Vehicles and Connected Healthcare demos focus on 5G’s ability to improve people’s lives, minimize road hazards, and facilitate remote diagnosis through real-time interaction. With FWA being the most efficient and scalable alternative to wired connections, Ericsson and Free in Senegal also demonstrated how its high reliability and high capacity could provide optimal network performance for smart homes.
The collaboration is part of Ericsson and Free in Senegal’s ongoing network transformation partnership which has seen both parties work together to launch 4G services and 5G Non-standalone (NSA) sites across Dakar. With five 5G NSA trial sites launched across Dakar last year and twenty 5G NSA trial sites currently being installed, Ericsson and Free in Senegal remain focused on expanding 4G services and 5G trial sites across Senegal, bringing the nation closer to a nationwide rollout of commercial 5G.
In the last few years, mobile technology has had an increasing role in driving digitalization across Senegal. Working together with Ericsson, and further to the frequency allocation from the regulator, we were able to successfully demonstrate 5G’s potential in transforming industries and creating innovative use cases across the country. With the nation’s Digital Senegal Strategy 2025 aiming to make the country a hub for digital transformation in the next few years, we are certain that our collaboration with Ericsson will bring us one step closer to realizing the national agenda.
Mamadou MBENGUE, Chief Executive Officer, Free in Senegal
We are thrilled to work with Free Senegal and demonstrate the enriching and transformative capabilities 5G holds for industries across the region. Communication technologies are driving Senegal towards the digital age and through our state-of-art 5G solutions, we aspire to help the nation build an inclusive digital economy to thrive in the digital era. Having a long-standing partnership with Free in Senegal, we remain committed to supporting Free to modernize and enhance the nation’s digital infrastructure to meet various social and economic challenges and evolve consumer experiences.
Nora Wahby, VP and head of customer unit West Africa & Morocco, Ericsson
