Cellnex has been awarded six 5G infrastructure projects by the European Commission for the installation of 5G infrastructure in international corridors. Two roads connecting Spain with France (Barcelona - Montpellier/Toulouse and Bilbao - Bordeaux) and two roads connecting Spain with Portugal (Salamanca - Porto - Vigo and Mérida - Évora) will be the subject of the construction projects.
The 5G infrastructure deployments will cost around €24 million in total, of which 50% will be covered by the European Commission. These initiatives will start in January 2023 and should be finished by December 2025.
The main goal of these initiatives, which are a part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-2) Digital program of the European Commission, is to deliver high-quality, reliable 5G connectivity for services related to road safety as well as connectivity services to users of vehicles and passengers along these corridors.
Cellnex plans to work with mobile operators using its neutral host model at 34 new telecom sites, including distributed antenna systems (DAS) in tunnels, to provide 5G connectivity to more than 1,400 km of these four cross-border corridors. These sites will also be complemented by a V2X communications infrastructure network as well as edge computing nodes.
“Cellnex is investing in the benefit that digitalizing these road corridors will bring, not only for connected vehicles but also for road network managers, emergency services, logistics and fleet operators as well as passengers themselves,” said Eduardo Fichmann, Global Director of Innovation and Product Strategy at Cellnex. He encouraged “mobile operators and the various public and private actors in the mobility sector to join the project and collaborate in developing new services that will be possible thanks to the roll-out of these infrastructures.”
Testing: Cellnex Mobility Lab
One of the multi-country projects of the EU Digital Decade Strategy is the 5G Corridors program. By 2027, CEF Digital wants to build a pan-European 5G transportation network. These infrastructures are viewed as crucial facilitators for implementing the linked, automated mobility of the future. Additionally, they will support the digitalization of train operations and offer services beyond the transportation industry in the corridor's surrounding communities, especially rural ones.Similar installations that improve future mobility have previously been done by Cellnex. As the 5GMED project’s leader and organizer, it is creating cross-border 5G application scenarios for the future rail mobile communications system (FRMCS) and advanced cooperative connected and automated mobility services (CCAM) along the Mediterranean Corridor between Figueres and Perpignan.
Additionally, the business designs, develops, and tests the upcoming connectivity infrastructures through the Cellnex Mobility Lab, which is situated at the Parcmotor circuit in Castellol (Barcelona), with a strong emphasis on their sustainability and their applications for connected and autonomous vehicles.
