Telefónica and the European Tour Deploy Event Specific 5G Coverage

Telefónica, in collaboration with the European Tour, will deploy 5G coverage at this week's ACCIONA Open de España. This will make it the first professional golf tournament in Europe to use this technology for its communications and television broadcasts.

This use case will provide a test bench for what a golf tournament or sporting event can look like with 5G. Specifically, several connected drones will be positioned on various holes and will transmit their video signal via 5G technology, providing new camera angles for viewers. Telefónica's infrastructure will also relay the video signals from the broadcast cameras through the mobile network with 5G encoders, AVIWEST's AIR-5G series, its StreamHub, receiver, decoder and cloud distribution platform deployed on Telefónica's edge computing specifically for the event.

In addition, Telefónica's installation of a mobile unit and 5G antennas, broadcasting in the 26 GHz band, will ensure high-performance Wi-Fi coverage in areas of the venue where Internet traffic is highest, such as the grandstands on the 18th hole, the media center, and VIP hospitality areas. The 5G technology will also be trialed as a means of simplifying the operation of the event. This includes a significant reduction in the amount of cabling required across the golf course, with technologies such as ball tracking radar devices and communications in the media center using wireless 5G technology.

Telefónica has also worked with Ericsson, which has provided its latest generation technology such as baseband solutions and 5G TDD active antennas in 3.5GHz and 26GHz, which provide high performance and lower consumption. This project is also an important step in the European Tour's sustainability strategy as 5G connectivity solutions are 90% more energy efficient than 4G and use 100% renewable energy for their deployment.