Huawei & Vodafone join hands to give Madrid the technical advantage

Huawei and Vodafone Spain have introduced today Madrid Tech City, a joint project to position Madrid as one of the most advanced cities around the world, from the technological point of view. 

 

Thanks to Madrid Tech City initiative, Madrilenians already have 4G+ mobile network peak data rates of 600 Mbps in the areas of Puerta del Sol, Plaza del Callao and Ópera, and in a future in Santa Ana Square. In addition, Retiro Park has been covered with a state-of-the-art active antenna solution, in order to extend the coverage and improve in this way the mobile experience of the citizens. The 45% of the stations located at the M-30 highway have rates of 250 Mbps.

 

Moreover, Chamartín railways station will have an indoors connected solution that will improve the coverage and capacity and will offer new location-based services. In this way, services such as indoors navigation, user-adapted advertising and people concentration map could be offered, combining all these services with the potential of Big Data analytics.

 

Likewise in crowd areas, concretely in Santiago Bernabéu and Vicente Calderón stadiums, new technologies will be implemented to improve the user experience. In Real Madrid stadium, a Cloud RAN-based radio access network has been deployed, which will allow thousands of fans to have high data rates and high-quality 4G mobile connections during the matches, avoiding in this way the typical congestion situation of any stadium. On the other hand, in Vicente Calderón stadium the enhanced Multiple Input - Multiple Output (MIMO) 4X4 technology will be set-up, for the purpose to improve the network capacity and maximize the downloading indices. In both stadiums, the 70% of traffic data are covered through 4G networks.

 

Finally, Vodafone and Huawei have opened the door of NB-IoT (Narrowband - Internet of Things). In this way, via devices sensors, new services could be offered to the citizens and the city, such as intelligent parking, that provides a higher space management efficiency and allows to pay before the vehicle arrives, including navigation to the location; a power-saving intelligent lighting system; an application to locate objects, children or pets; a more efficient waste collection; pollution sensors; water, gas and electricity meters, etc.

 

The NB-IoT technology provides a sensor battery duration up to more than 10 years, massive connections, and a price reduction of its processors. In addition, it offers a better coverage, reaching places that could not be reached until now via the mobile network, such as underground zones. 

 

Diego Torrico, Public Administrations Director at Vodafone Spain, commented: "We are delighted at seeing how Madrid Tech City project allow citizens to enjoy one of the fastest 4G networks in the world and an unprecedented mobile Internet experience in the most iconic areas of Madrid. With this initiative, together with Huawei’s support, we want to transform Madrid into a city with intelligent services, taking advantage of the possibilities offered by new network technologies in space management."

 

Once considered as utopia, this is today a reality. The technological cities can be already clearly perceived, but there is still a long way to have a significant impact in the local management and the quality of life of the citizens. With ICT as main driving force, the future of urban societies will be redefined via innovating intelligent systems. For that reason, in order to help them face the new challenges and cover the increasing demand, Huawei and Vodafone Spain have joined forces to turn Madrid into a reference technological city.

 

During his intervention, Tony Jin Yong, Huawei Spain CEO, has thanked the Government and Madrid City Council for their presence in the event, and Vodafone Spain for its collaboration. In addition, he said: “This project promoted by Huawei in other 12 cities of the world, positions Madrid as one of the most technological cities of the planet and at the forefront of the race to optimize the user experience. The effort made by our company, with the strong support and cooperation from Vodafone, in the development of Madrid Tech City reaffirms, once again, the commitment of our company in the digital transformation of Spain and its capital.” 

 

Yang Chaobin, CMO of Huawei Global Wireless Network Product Line, highlighted that, "Huawei is pleased to collaborate with Vodafone, one of our strategic partners, to launch the TechCity project in Madrid. This project aims at employing innovative mobile communication solutions to address urban challenges together with industry partners, to improve urban operation efficiency, and to provide a better mobile communication experience. Huawei and Vodafone have developed successful cooperation in joint innovation and we believe that the TechCity project to be launched in Madrid will effectively improve the quality of daily lives through innovative technological achievements. We are looking forward to a better future."