The Barcelona City Council has deployed 5G coverage on the waterfront to meet the high demand for the America’s Cup. Authorities assured that this deployment will respond to the demand, offering an adequate quality of service. This on the beaches of the neighborhoods of Barceloneta, the Olympic Village and Poblenou. In addition, they have assured that the infrastructures will be maintained once the sporting event is over. In this way, the neighbors will have an improvement, as well as the citizens who make regular use of both the beaches and the seafront.
5G coverage on the waterfront
The implementation of 5G coverage on the Barcelona waterfront was carried out in anticipation of a high demand for mobile network capacity, especially in view of major events to be held in the city. To this end, Barcelona City Council, through the Municipal Institute of Informatics (IMI), has worked closely with telecommunications operators to upgrade the network infrastructure in three key neighborhoods of the city.
This initiative is largely a supportive action, as the General Telecommunications Law explicitly prohibits the use of public bidding mechanisms for the development of mobile networks. However, the law does encourage public-private collaboration in terms of sharing infrastructure and strategic locations. As a result, the mobile operators have fully assumed the costs associated with these upgrades, at no cost to the Barcelona City Council.
At a press conference, Jordi Valls, deputy mayor for Economy, Finance, Economic Promotion and Tourism, stressed that this infrastructure will remain in the city beyond specific events such as the America’s Cup, noting that it represents a “substantial improvement” for residents in one of Barcelona’s busiest public areas, specifically along the 3.5 kilometers of the waterfront. Valls also indicated that the City Council plans to extend this type of infrastructure to the entire city, using this initial project as a test to evaluate its effectiveness.
Shares
In terms of concrete actions, four main interventions have been carried out to improve 5G coverage in the area. Firstly, a cell phone base station was installed on the façade of the Club Natació Atlètic Barceloneta. Additionally, base stations were placed in the territorial delegation of the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet). Another significant intervention was the installation of small cells on the lighting poles of the Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, as well as on the Paseo Marítimo del Bogatell.
In addition to these actions, operators have been working on upgrading other private sites, installing new base stations and upgrading existing ones to ensure robust 5G coverage not only on the waterfront, but throughout the city. This is crucial as, although the America’s Cup will be held mainly on the beaches, Barcelona will host a number of events in multiple locations, requiring a robust and reliable telecommunications network for all attendees and residents.
This project, in addition to strengthening the technological infrastructure in the city, marks an important step towards the integration of advanced technologies such as 5G in the daily lives of the people of Barcelona, positioning the city as a benchmark in innovation and connectivity.
Experiences
In Plaza del Mar, in the Barceloneta neighborhood, several spaces designed to enhance the spectators’ experience during the America’s Cup will be installed. One of the most prominent elements will be a large screen that will broadcast the competitions live, creating a meeting point for attendees. In addition, other support infrastructures will be installed for the public, which will turn this square into a place with a high concentration of people and mobile devices, requiring a high-capacity telecommunications network.
The Club Natació Atlètic Barceloneta (CNAB), located on the south side of the Plaça del Mar, has been identified as a strategic location for the installation of cell phone antennas. In collaboration with Telefónica, the Instituto Municipal de Informática (IMI) has facilitated the installation of these antennas, ensuring robust coverage in the area.
Several mobile telephony base stations have also been installed at the territorial delegation of the Spanish Meteorological Agency, located near Barcelona’s Olympic Port. This location is key from the point of view of network deployment, as it will help to decongest the nearest base station, located in the captaincy building of the Olympic Port. In this project, IMI worked together with Totem, and the operators Orange and Telefónica were selected to carry out the installation.
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