Cellnex installs small cells on Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas
European telecommunications infrastructure provider Cellnex has signed an agreement with Urban Service Point (USP) to install small cells at newsstands in areas with particularly high population density and demand for data consumption, the company announced.
The first newspaper stand to feature the small cells will be located on the famous Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain. The companies plan to expand the deployment to other cities in Spain. USP currently has more than 300 newspaper stands in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Granada.
Cellnex noted that small cells can be installed in any urban fixture, such as newspaper stands, bus stops, street lights, traffic lights, store signs, etc. These small cells will enable increased capacity and coverage of mobile networks and will play a key role in the network densification needed to roll out technologies such as 5G in major cities, particularly as a complement to traditional communication towers on the roofs of buildings, the company said.
Luis Sancho, Director and Co-Founder of Urban Service Point, said: “Newsstands serve citizens and cities. We can’t imagine it any other way. It has always been that way and it must be the common denominator of all projects that bet on their transformation. We are very grateful for Cellnex’s commitment to the newsstand sector’s transformation model. This agreement positions newsstands as a key network for small cell deployment, enabling the city council to progress towards smart city capabilities and provide essential services to its citizens.”
“We greatly appreciate USP’s flexibility and collaboration and look forward to further similar partnerships across the country as we explore solutions for our mobile operator clients to densify mobile coverage in urban areas,” said Jordi Sanchís, Assets and Infrastructure Director at Cellnex Spain.
Cellnex manages a portfolio of around 135,000 sites in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland, with deployment planned up to 2030. Cellnex’s business consists of four main areas: communications infrastructure services, audiovisual broadcasting networks, security and emergency services networks, and smart city infrastructure and service management solutions.
