Orange and Ericsson Deploy 5G Network for Madrid Public Safety

In a collaboration for the Madrid Council, Orange and Ericsson are equipping the city’s public and emergency services with advanced connectivity. It is designed to maintain secure, reliable, and low-latency communications in the most challenging scenarios, and will connect police, fire brigades, and medical responders.

Madrid public safety agencies will utilize a network slice enabled on the Orange 5G Standalone network, with a Radio Access Network and Core, to provide dedicated network resources for emergency services. This will ensure low latency and traffic differentiation over commercial traffic. In addition to providing public network coverage and ensuring secure ubiquitous access to these critical services, the solution will feature a capability that enables rapid deployment and relocation as needed, making it ideal for dynamic and evolving emergencies in public safety operations.

The solution features Ericsson Ultra Compact Core (UCC) and radios that connect to Orange’s 5G SA public network or to the Madrid city dedicated emergency spectrum (Band 68), depending on different scenarios and needs. The system also delivers autonomy and uninterrupted communication for the region’s emergency responders when the public network is unavailable or when ground infrastructures are potentially damaged. The next-gen mission-critical network provides immediate, high-speed connectivity for municipal first responders, aid workers, and the command & control center to communicate seamlessly with each other, enhancing coordination and situational awareness dramatically.

The architecture is designed with autonomous energy and redundancy to maximize resilience and guarantee continuity of critical communications in challenging conditions. Funded by NEXTGEN EU funds as part of initiatives to modernize and digitalize public services, the Madrid Council project not only positions the city as a pioneer in digitalizing emergency communications but also offers a replicable model for other regions, including rural and hard-to-reach areas across Spain and beyond.