Rogers and UBC announce agreement to build massive new 5G hub in Vancouver

Sep 21 2018, 1:01 am

A new partnership announced today between Rogers and the University of British Columbia (UBC) will mean a three year, multi-million dollar partnership deal to build a real-world 5G hub on the UBC campus that the company says will be a “testbed and blueprint for 5G innovation” in Canada.

“5G represents a massive technological transformation that will connect everything in our world from people and machines, to homes and cities,” said Joe Natale, President and CEO, Rogers Communications. “The global race to unlock its potential is underway.”

The company’s partnership with UBC, he added, “will ensure we bring our country and Canadians the very best 5G has to offer.”

Rogers said it will deploy 5G-ready network equipment and infrastructure at UBC starting in early 2019.

The partnership will study 5G applications such as monitoring cars and traffic to develop smarter and safer cities, as well as develop skills in computer science, applied mathematics, machine learning and software development.

Other research interests include autonomous vehicles, machine learning, artificial intelligence and network slicing technology for use in robotics, farming and medical applications.

“Significant expertise” at UBC

For its part, UBC “has significant expertise in leveraging its own infrastructure to create a unique ‘living lab’ environment that fosters creative problem-solving in a real-world setting,” said UBC President and Vice-Chancellor, Santa Ono. “This partnership with Rogers opens exciting research and learning opportunities for our faculty and students in wireless technology. ”

Ono added that that the partnership is “a great example of how universities and industry can work together to develop new knowledge and provide our students with the skills that are vital in building the digital economy.”

The partnership is part of Rogers multi-year program to bring 5G to Canadians. The company announced a national infrastructure agreement with Ericsson to boost and densify its fibre-powered network with 5G-ready technology. Earlier this year, Rogers completed live 5G testing at Rogers Centre and is currently testing 5G global standards.

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