The goal is to explore new technology and advanced connectivity for Norwegian industry.
"We want to facilitate that industry players with connection to Herøya have the best conditions to succeed in using new technology such as 5G, artificial intelligence and cloud services. Together, these technologies have the potential to create enormous value for Norwegian industry," says Sverre Gotaas, CEO of Herøya Industripark AS. "That is why we are now taking the initiative together with Telia to build Europe's most groundbreaking test arena for 5G, private mobile networks, and advanced connectivity here at Herøya."
About 80 companies with approximately 2.500 employees are located at Herøya Industrial Park. They represent a wide range of sizes and sectors – from large industrial players such as Equinor, Hydro, Inovyn and Yara to smaller start-ups and R&D departments.
"In order to succeed in realizing the value of the ongoing technology shift and create competitiveness for Norwegian industry, we need to learn from each other, test new technology and develop new solutions together," says Stein-Erik Vellan, CEO of Telia Norway. "Telia is at the forefront of 5G in Norway and in the development of private mobile networks throughout the Nordic region. For us, it was an easy choice to team up with Norway's leading industrial environment at Herøya. We look forward to a very exciting industrial and technological journey ahead."
Industrial automation and autonomous vehicles
The collaboration between Herøya Industripark AS and Telia will include several technical installations, and the modernization of the public mobile network in the area is already well underway.
"We have built a brand new 5G base station that will go live in a couple of days," says Ole-Petter Røstad, project leader at Telia Norway. "During the summer, we will establish a private 5G network on the new industrial spectrum 3.8-4.2 GHz and in the industrial park's test laboratory there will be a separate 5G facility with the option of local processing and storage of data, so-called edge computing."
In the short term, these installations will be used for testing industrial automation, connecting a larger number of IoT devices, local processing of high-definition video streams, control of autonomous vehicles, and giving workers access to digital tools to make their jobs safer and more efficient.
Offers arena for testing 5G
"Many industry players are curious about how 5G and private networks work, and how they can create value in their production chain. These players say they need to test 5G in an industrial environment to build competence and gain first-hand experience with the technology," says Gotaas. "This is exactly what we will facilitate together with Telia. Not only for those who are located in the industrial park, but for everyone who wants to come here and test novel mobile technology. This is an open invitation to collaborate," he adds.
Telia was the first in Norway to launch Enterprise Mobile Networks (EMN) to companies, industry, and public enterprises in the spring of 2021. Since then, the company has experienced increasing demand in the enterprise market for this type of services, which can be delivered on both 4G and 5G.
Telia will furthermore be first in Norway with a nationwide 5G network in 2023, and already today over half of the Norwegian population have access to the new and fast mobile technology.
24. May 2022
