Cellnex signs an agreement with Third Sector entities to develop the Internet of Things in social housing

Through the m4Social project, Cellnex Telecom and the Third Sector Board are setting up a pilot project to equip six homes with sensors that will allow remote data to be gathered and monitored to anticipate possible risk situations and optimise the use of resources in these “connected” homes

Barcelona, 18^th December 2017.  Cellnex Telecom and four foundations integrated into the Third Social Sector Board of Catalonia have signed a cooperation agreement to perform a social housing project by applying sensorisation and connectivity technologies linked to the Internet of Things (IoT).

Through this cooperation agreement, the telecommunication services and infrastructure operator will equip six homes, for people at risk of social exclusion, with several sensors that will allow data to be gathered and monitored – essentially concerning energy consumption and efficiency in these homes – as well as detecting temperatures and other indicators to make it easier to monitor these “connected” homes.

For the foundations that manage these properties, Cellnex will also configure the IoT platform required for the remote storage and monitoring of the data, as well as the control panel from which to process the information and generate indicators.

Through the sensors – and this IoT platform -, the entities will be able to anticipate any abnormal or risk situation, optimise the use of resources and make decisions about possible actions based on the parameters obtained.

The four foundations participating in this pilot project are the Family and Social Welfare Foundation, the Social Initiative Foundation, the Private Habitat Foundation 3 Third Social Sector and the Private Foundation for the Promotion of Social Housing. All four are integrated into the Board of Entities of the Third Social Sector of Catalonia.

The agreement was signed at Cellnex’s Barcelona headquarters by Antoni Brunet, Director of Public and Corporate Affairs, Xavier Mauri, General Manager of the Habitat 3 Private Foundation, Sergio Rodríguez, Director of the Private Foundation for Social Housing Development, and Francesc Montagut attorney of the Family and Social Welfare Foundation and the Social Initiative Foundation

The signing ceremony was also attended by Adolf Díaz, Vice-chairman of the Third Sector Board, Toni Codina, the entity’s General Manager, and the coordination team of the m4Social project.

Antoni Brunet, Cellnex’s Director of Public and Corporate Affairs, emphasised that “This agreement with the Third Sector Board is a practical and concrete demonstration of how digital technologies can help reduce risk situations, to track deviations and anomalies that may be indicating a type of problem in these homes. We are beginning this experience in areas that affect the monitoring of water, gas or electricity consumption and energy efficiency, but in future we will have to think – together with the Public Administrations – about how the connectivity of these homes to broadband services is a basic service such as access to water, gas or electricity.”     

Adolf Díaz, Vice-chairman of the Third Sector Board, thanked Cellnex for taking part in this project and underlined “the importance of moving forward in the digital transformation of the Third Sector through projects that help improve the entities’ work mechanisms, improve their efficiency and, above all, improve people’s lives.”

                       From left to right: Sergio Rodríguez (Director of the Private Foundation for Social Housing Development), Antoni Brunet                                                   (Director of Public and Corporate Affairs), Xavier Mauri (General Manager of the Habitat 3 Private Foundation)                                                        and  Francesc Montagut (attorney of the Family and Social Welfare Foundation and the Social Initiative Foundation).

About the “m4Social” project and the Third Social Sector Board of Catalonia

 ‘M4social’ is a project of the Third Sector Board that connects social action and the technological world to accelerate the digital transformation of personal services and to contribute to the empowerment of citizens and social entities. “M4social” has the support of the Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia, Obra Social “La Caixa” and the Mobile Word Capital Barcelona Foundation.

The Board of Third Social Sector entities of Catalonia is an organisation established in 2003 by the entities of the Third Social Sector of Catalonia. It comprises 35 federations representing more than 3,000 non-profit organisations working for inclusion and social cohesion. The social entities of the Third Social Sector Board attend to 1.5 million people, have 87,700 workers, 367,000 volunteers, 559,000 members and 563,000 donors. They account for 1.37% of Catalan GDP.

About Cellnex Telecom

Cellnex Telecom is Europe’s leading independent operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures with a total portfolio of more than 21,000 sites all over Europe. The company operates in six countries: Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Cellnex structures its activities into four main areas: telecommunication infrastructures services; audiovisual broadcasting networks; security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management (smart cities and the “Internet of Things” (IoT)).

The company is listed on the continuous market of the Spanish stock exchange and is part of the selective IBEX 35 and EuroStoxx 600 indices. Cellnex is also part of the FTSE4GOOD and CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) sustainability indexes and has recently been included in the Standard Ethics index.

Cellnex Telecom has a Corporate Responsibility policy based on international standards (such as the United Nations Global Compact) and takes on board the specific ISO26000 management framework. The company’s CR Master Plan sets the objectives, actions and monitoring indicators of the various areas of sustainability defined. Each year the company publishes its Integrated Annual Report, prepared according to the GRI standard and audited by an independent third party.