Huawei joined forces with Vodafone Spain on a project that is turning Madrid into one of the most advanced tech cities in the world.
The project, which is called "Madrid Tech City," officially launched on Monday. Residents of Madrid currently have access to 4G+ mobile network peak data rates of 600 Mbps in the areas of Puerta del Sol, Plaza del Callao and Ópera with Santa Ana Square set to be next.
The project also includes indoor connectivity on railway stations and mobile coverage via an active antenna solution -- with throughput of up to 250 Mbps -- near a highway.
A Cloud RAN-based radio access network has been installed at Real Madrid Stadium, which will allow soccer fans to have high data rates and 4G mobile connections during the bandwidth-intensive matches.
In Vicente Calderón stadium Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) 4X4 technology will be installed to improve the network capacity and maximize the downloading indices. In both of the stadiums, the 70% of traffic data is covered through 4G networks.
Lastly, Vodafone España S.A. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. have turned up Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology to connect devices, sensors and new services, including navigation and intelligent parking, within Madrid.
"We are delighted at seeing how [the] Madrid Tech City project allows 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," said Diego Torrico, public administrations director, Vodafone Spain. "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."
— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation