Telefónica, in collaboration with Sony, has carried out a 5G connectivity trial at the Movistar Arena, achieving speeds of several gigabits per second thanks to the use of the 26GHz band, also known as the millimetre band or mmWave.
Telefónica is the only operator in Spain to have 1,000MHz of spectrum in this band, a capacity equivalent to the bandwidth of up to ten 5G operators using current 3.5GHz technology, enabling it to offer a capacity far superior to that of conventional 5G.
Consequently, this pioneering pilot project in Spain has demonstrated how this technology can simultaneously support the intensive use of thousands of people at an event and professional applications requiring the transmission of large amounts of data in real time, such as multiple video feeds for the television broadcast of a sporting or musical event.
One of the highlights of the trial was the use of an innovative configuration called heavy uplink, or a network optimised for uplink bandwidth, designed to deliver exceptionally high upload speeds. At the Movistar Arena, upload speeds of over 1.8Gbps were achieved, the highest speed deployed to date on a commercial 5G network in Spain. This capacity is key for activities such as live video broadcasting or remote audiovisual production, even in environments with very high traffic, something that is only within Telefónica’s reach due to the extensive spectrum it holds in the 26GHz band.
The pilot was carried out in collaboration with Sony, which was able to test the operation of a 5G audiovisual broadcasting system based on elements such as the CBK-RPU7 remote production unit for ultra-low latency HEVC video encoding. The 4K ultra high-definition image captured by the HXC-FZ90 was transmitted after encoding up to 100Mbps, to 5G network via Sony’s PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter and then decoded by an NXL-ME80 media processor.
Leonor Ostos, director of product and service development at Telefónica Spain, said: “This installation in the 26GHz 5G band at the Movistar Arena demonstrates our commitment to next-generation networks. This technology enables use cases involving the management of large volumes of data in real time, driving both professional use within the industry and a superior connected experience for the public at mass events such as concerts and major sporting events. This development also reflects our determination to be the best gateway to digital technologies, consolidating our position as an innovative and competitive company, focused on offering more and better services to the customer”.
Rob Thorne, category head of networked live, Sony Professional Europe, said: “5G promises greater flexibility for production companies, but bandwidth and architecture limitation have held it back until now. By combining the 5G mmWave technology deployed at the Movistar Arena, with Sony’s unique HEVC solution, we’re proving that 5G can meet the high-quality, low-latency demands of live production today.”
