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ZTE teams with KPN and other partners for 5G Field Lab Drenthe on Precision Agriculture


Johannesburg, 10 Oct 2018

ZTE South Africa has revealed that ZTE Corporation has announced it has worked with KPN to successfully complete the test of the first 5G application for Precision Agriculture on experimental farm 't Kompas, Drenthe, The Netherlands. This has been achieved in co-operation with the Province of Drenthe, Wageningen University & Research, Dronehub GAE Foundation, Agrifac and Innovation Veenkoloni"en.

ZTE Corporation is a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile Internet.

The test employs a camera drone to take very accurate images of a potato cultivation field. Afterwards, through a mobile connection with 5G characteristics, these images are processed and sent to an agricultural machine, which then basically doses the proper protection to the potato crop in a very precise way on a real-time basis. The test greatly enhances the process period, from about two days to just two hours in the 5G Field Lab.

"Agriculture is expected to be one of the most important fields of 5G applications. Thanks to 5G technology, Precision Agriculture is becoming more accessible to agricultural companies, and basically, they can respond instantly to developments on land. Not only will this save the costs of the farmers on their crop protection, which also benefits the environment, but it is to be expected that this will also increase the profits on their land because they will have more real-time direct control over their crops," says Tom Poelhekken, Chief Technology Officer at KPN.

In addition to a higher speed, 5G explicitly focuses on more flexibility, shorter reaction time and higher reliability. In Drenthe, the test adopts new technology in an existing agricultural process of control of deciduous crops that grows between potato plants. A camera drone scans the field with a multi-spectral camera. Thanks to the mobile connection with 5G characteristics, the large data files can be immediately sent and processed in a task card for the agricultural machine, which can then work very precisely on the field. This process requires large bandwidth for its upload, for which the current 4G networks are not sufficient. During the test in Drenthe, KPN has for the first time combined various frequency bands (uplink carrier aggregation) so that the images made by the drone can be sent in real-time.

"We are delighted to have been chosen to support KPN in one of its 5G field labs to explore the value of 5G applications. This result demonstrates great innovation power, which can be generated from the close collaboration between our teams, and we look forward to more joint success in the future," says Patric Bin, CEO of ZTE Netherlands.

Together with the customers and technology partners, KPN has been committed to discovering the value of 5G technology. The test in Drenthe is part of four different field labs for 5G applications, specifically, in agriculture, urban areas, harbour area, and the automotive sector. In these field labs, KPN investigates, together with customers and several technology partners, how 5G can optimise business processes and improve the customer experience. Later this year, KPN will also hold the first 5G tests in Amsterdam Zuidoost, the Rotterdam Port and on a highway near Helmond.

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ZTE South Africa

ZTE South Africa is a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. ZTE South Africa is dedicated to making quality communications technology accessible to all. The company draws on more than 25 years of experience and research investment to deliver smart, affordable, quality choices for infrastructure and mobile data device customers nationwide.

For more information, visit www.zte.com.cn.

ZTE

ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, carriers, companies and public sector customers. As part of ZTE's strategy, the company is committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and IT sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTE's products and services are sold to over 500 operators in more than 160 countries. ZTE commits 10% of its annual revenue to research and development and has leadership roles in international standard-setting organisations. ZTE is committed to corporate social responsibility and is a member of the UN Global Compact. For more information, please visit www.zte.com.cn. Know more about SDN/NFV: www.sdnfv.zte.com.cn www.openlab.zte.com.cn

Editorial contacts

Deirdre Blain
Blain Communications
(+27) 083 230 5522
blain@iafrica.com
Jessica King
ZTE Corporation South Africa
(+27) 82 356 4239
jessicaking@zte.com.cn