Vodafone and Huawei have teamed up to launch a new project dubbed Madrid Tech City, with the stated aim of converting the Spanish capital into one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world. One of the first initiatives offers users the possibility of accessing the internet on the move at speeds of up to 600 Mbps in the city centre via LTE-A technology. Vodafone’s 4G+ service currently allows customers throughout Madrid to download data at theoretical speeds of up to 300 Mbps. However, under the Madrid Tech City initiative, customers can now browse at twice that speed in central areas such as the Puerta del Sol, Plaza del Callao and Opera.
Other initiatives include expanding the coverage in the city’s Retiro park via an active antenna and increasing the access speed in 45 percent of the city’s central stations to 250 Mbps. Vodafone and Huawei have also partnered to introduce Cloud RAN-based radio access technology in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium to prevent network congestion and enable thousands of simultaneous 4G connections. In addition, the partners will be employing 4x4 MIMO (multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output) technology in Atletico Madrid’s Vicente Calderon stadium to boost network capacity and increase download speeds.
Finally, under the Madrid Tech City initiative, the partners will start implementing Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology at several sites with a view to introducing sensor-based services such as smart parking, lighting, rubbish collection and pollution and water monitoring.
