The eighth annual Monaco Business salon on Tuesday, October 27, was very successful, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Strict social distancing was in place at the Rainier III Auditorium, where many of Monaco’s established companies and start-ups gathered to present their products and services.

Monaco Telecom was prominent, and its CEO, Martin Peronnet, took time to tell NEWS.MC about the progress the company has been making.

5G has been a hot topic in the Principality since Monaco Telecom announced in July 2019 that Monaco was the first country where 5G was rolled out over the whole territory.

Delays in seeing 5G bring its benefits have been attributed to the fact that while the technology was functional the ecosystem to support it has lagged behind. In general terms the coronavirus crisis has delayed progress, too.

“The ecosystem is beginning to build up. Handsets were not ready when we rolled out 5G,” Mr Peronnet said, adding that the very recent arrival of the IPhone 12 is already changing that.

He said that 5G is necessary in Monaco because of the need to handle so much data, at speed. “5G is here because data is critical,” Mr Peronnet said.

Addressing the issue of safety, he said that 5G is much less harmful than previous technologies, and in Monaco the limit on radio waves is ten times lower than in the European Union. “There are no specific facts supporting public fears about 5G,” he said.

Monaco Telecom is working on several other projects, such as fibre networks for homes, and this is being rolled out during the first half of next year.

PHOTO: Martin Peronnet Ian Brodie