PARIS -- Bouygues Telecom and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are joining forces in a collaboration agreement to support business customers as they evaluate ways to harness 5G mobile networks.

As the process of rolling out 5G ultrafast networks begins in France in the coming weeks, this will open up a wide field of new uses for the general public but especially for enterprises, which use applications that require increased connection speeds, improved traffic capacities, and very low latency while increasing security.

Relying on the complementary expertise of Bouygues Telecom as a telecom operator and IBM's technology, services and deep industry expertise in hybrid cloud, IoT and edge computing, Bouygues Telecom and IBM are joining forces to offer a co-innovation approach for customers called the "Open Lab 5G." This approach will allow companies to concretely assess the benefits of the technological value of 5G  - such as speed, latency, bandwidth and increase in number of devices - in how it addresses business challenges. It will be applicable to all companies wishing to experiment with 5G, to discover its potential and develop use cases.

The "Open Lab 5G" approach revolves around:

• Co-development of use cases that leverage the power of 5G networks in various sectors such as manufacturing, transport, health, energy and utilities, retail, and smart city though the IBM Garage approach.
• Creation of rapid 5G-enabled test sites for clients, with a 5G device kit provided by Bouygues Telecom
• Implementation of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and evaluation of the ROI
• Support for the industrialization of the chosen solution

For Bouygues Telecom, which will soon open its 5G network, the adoption of 5G by companies is strategic. François Treuil, CEO of Bouygues Telecom Entreprises explains: "Networks are key to the digitalization of businesses and the contributions of 5G will be considerable. It is therefore important for our customers to be able to start now to assess the tangible benefits of 5G, which will promote their own competitiveness. This is the spirit of the approach we are putting in place with IBM to support our customers ".

"I am proud that Bouygues Telecom has chosen IBM as a strategic partner to help companies prepare as 5G comes to the French market.  This collaboration builds on IBM's deep telecommunications industry expertise and our longstanding commitment to helping telecommunications companies around the world harness new and emerging technologies to advance how they deliver new value to customers and grow their businesses.", declares Marie-Noelle Muller, Vice-President - Enterprise & Commercial, IBM France.