Cellnex deploys private 5G network at San Sebastian Airport using Nokia equipment
Spanish airport operator Aena and European telecommunications infrastructure and services operator Cellnex Telecom have begun operating a private network based on 5G technology at Spain’s San Sebastian International Airport.
For this project, Cellnex was responsible for the installation and deployment of the 5G network at the airport. This network enables many use cases related to drone operations, primarily related to security and advanced surveillance.
In this project, Cellnex will work with Finnish vendor Nokia as a partner for 5G network deployment, while Inetum will be responsible for supplying and operating the drones.
Pablo Lopez Loeches, Head of Entrepreneurship at Aena, emphasized the importance of installing a private 5G network at one of the airports. “It will enable us to test specific airport use cases and is a new connectivity layer that will provide the airport community with reliable and readily available data transmission services.”
Meanwhile, Mikel Mir, Enterprise Sales Manager at Cellnex Spain, said: “The importance of communication infrastructure and technologies such as 5G contributes to process optimization in complex environments such as airports, where security and operational efficiency are key.” emphasized.
Earlier this year, Spanish rail infrastructure operator Adif Alta Velocidad (Adif AV) announced that it would be investing 20.5 million yen to build a private 5G and public 5G network to connect, digitize and automate Spain’s rail logistics centres. Euro contracts were given to Cellnex Telecom and Nokia.
State-owned Adif AV manages 3,762 kilometers of high-speed rail track and 46 stations, as well as 11,780 kilometers of local rail track. According to a press note, the rollout of 5G is aimed at supporting Industry 4.0 ambitions, and reducing the cost of rail freight transport is key. Cellnex and Nokia will deploy 10 different private 5G networks at 10 different logistics terminals in Spain. Each uses the 2.3 GHz band.
The 10 private 5G deployments dedicated to Adif AV are planned for the Vicarvaro and Villaverde terminals in Madrid, the Zaragoza Plaza terminal in Zaragoza, Cantunis and La Lagosta in Barcelona, Fuente San Luis in Valencia, Maharabique in Seville and Vitoria . Jundis in Vitoria, terminals in Bilbao and Valladolid. In addition to each, Cellnex and Nokia will build public 5G coverage around and connecting the railways between terminals.
Public 5G infrastructure will be made available on a shared basis to carriers to serve “areas where deployment is currently not economically viable,” the statement said. The public 5G setup will provide “the entire terminal area in the 700 MHz band and…umbrella coverage in the 3.5 GHz band in high traffic density areas.” The contract includes the design, construction, and management of the network infrastructure.
Last month, Airbus and Cellnex signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore cooperation in business and mission-critical communications. This MoU will be used to explore joint opportunities on mission-critical communications in various European countries.
Cellnex manages a portfolio of more than 135,000 sites in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland, with projected deployments to 2030.
