08 November 2018
GREAT BRITAIN - Vodafone has conducted the first live holographic call using 5G.
At a public demonstration held in the UK in September, Stephanie Houghton, captain of Manchester City and the England Women’s football teams, interacted in a 3D, real-time communication with Vodafone enterprise director Anne Sheehan who was more than 190 miles away at Vodafone’s HQ in Newbury.
Also taking part was 11-year-old Manchester City and Lionesses fan Iris from Surrey.
Despite the distance, she was able to be in the ‘same room’ as her idol Houghton thanks to the use of a Microsoft HoloLens VR headset connected via 5G.
This latest development follows the success of Vodafone’s first UK test of 5G spectrum across a live network in April 2018.
As from October 2018, the operator plans to switch on 5G trials in the first of its city test beds, following end-to-end testing at its lab in Newbury.
Manchester and Birmingham, which are in north-west and central England respectively, will be the first of seven test cities to go live.
The operator adds that it will also roll out 5G to popular UK holiday destinations such as the coastal resort of Cornwall and the Lake District during 2019.