Cellnex will turn Montserrat into a “Smart City”

The Cellnex Foundation and the Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 sign a patronage agreement as part of the Monastery’s Millennium celebrations, through which the infrastructure operator will improve mobile voice and data coverage.

The Sanctuary and its surroundings will have a comprehensive Internet of Things (IoT) system for smart capacity, parking, intrusion and air quality control management.

Barcelona, 30 March 2022. The Cellnex Foundation and the telecommunications infrastructure operator will provide the Sanctuary of Saint Mary of Montserrat and its surrounding area with the technology and connectivity services of a Smart City. This will be made possible under the patronage agreement signed between the Cellnex Foundation and the Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 as part of the Monastery’s Millennium celebrations to be held in 2025, which will make it possible to roll out a comprehensive Internet of Things (IoT) system comprising sensors, a data transmission network and a computer platform for the real-time remote collection, monitoring and proactive management of data. Among other things, this will lead to more efficient capacity, parking, intrusion and air quality control management. The aim is to offer a better service, both to the Benedictine community and to visitors and pilgrims visiting the Sanctuary.

The system as a whole will allow automatic real-time control and management of the capacity of spaces such as the Basilica of Saint Mary, the Path of the Ave Maria and the Monastery Museum as well as the joint occupancy level of the car parks located on the access road and the Monastery’s new underground car park. The system will also help to prevent and detect any type of intrusion in the isolated and remote buildings of the Abbey.

Furthermore, CO₂, temperature and humidity sensors will be installed in places with the largest numbers of visitors –including shops and restaurants– to monitor the level of air quality at all times and activate the necessary and appropriate resources to ensure proper ventilation of these spaces.

Likewise, under the agreement between both entities, Cellnex will start operating the Monastery’s telecommunications infrastructure set up to provide voice and data coverage to the area of the Sanctuary by mobile operators.

A step forward in the digital transformation of the Sanctuary

Father Bernat Juliol, prior of the Monastery and commissioner of the 2025 Millennium, stated that this agreement “represents a very important step forward in what we call the ‘Smart Sanctuary’ project, bringing a clear improvement in connectivity in Montserrat. This collaboration with the Cellnex Foundation means a quantum leap in the quality of services currently on offer to pilgrims and visitors to Montserrat, who will be able to enjoy their stay with currently accepted needs properly met. We at the abbey are very satisfied to be working hand in hand with an organisation so committed to its local area as the Cellnex Foundation”.

Cellnex Foundation Chairman, Lluís Deulofeu underlined that “the ‘Smart Sanctuary’ project fits in perfectly with the Foundation’s goal of working towards digital, social and territorial inclusion through projects that improve access to connectivity, bringing technology closer to people and promoting improved connections in areas and sites of particular heritage and historical relevance as Montserrat; and we are especially excited to make it coincide with the celebration of the Millennium of the Monastery”.

Albert Cuatrecasas, CEO of Cellnex in Spain, highlighted that “in this connection we are very happy to be able to provide our experience in rolling out, maintaining and operating Internet of Things (IoT) networks to Montserrat Abbey. Every day, more than 3 million objects and the many services derived from them are connected to the IoT networks that we manage at Cellnex. This type of network stands out for its low bandwidth, its long range and its robustness, and its high energy efficiency. In addition, they have a direct impact on everyday situations like those that we will put into practice in these first use cases that we will roll out in the Sanctuary and its surrounding area, linked mainly to the efficient management of spaces and the comfort of both the Community and the visitors”.

About the Montserrat Abbey Private Foundation 2025

The Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 was set up in 1997 with the main aim of helping to maintain, promote and encourage all the most typical values of the Monastery and the Montserrat Sanctuary, –social, cultural and environmental– for the benefit of pilgrims and visitors who go up to Montserrat. The Foundation’s functions include: informing about the needs of Montserrat and obtaining the resources to meet them; allocating the funds collected to the purpose for which they were donated; and gifting part of these funds to charity work and providing assistance to those in need.

With the help of individuals, companies and institutions, the Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 can also perform social work that is a projection of Montserrat, both in poor and marginalised areas of the country and in countries with serious development needs. Input from the members of the Foundation has provided new ideas and has encouraged us to continue with the necessary renovations to ensure that the Monastery’s Millennium celebrations, to be held in 2025, can take place in the best possible conditions.

About the Cellnex Foundation

The Cellnex Foundation, backed by Cellnex Telecom, works to reduce existing digital, social and territorial divides through initiatives that improve access to connectivity. It also works to promote positive solutions for the environment.

Its business model is based on three pillars: Proprietary programmes led by the Foundation, joint programmes in alliance with other organisations and institutions, and corporate volunteering.

For more information: https://www.cellnextelecom.com/en/the-cellnex-foundation/

About Cellnex Telecom

The efficient deployment of next-generation connectivity is essential to drive technological innovation and accelerate inclusive economic growth. Cellnex Telecom is the independent wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure operator that enables operators to access Europe’s most extensive network of advanced telecommunications infrastructure on a shared-use basis, helping to reduce access barriers for new operators and to improve services in the most remote areas.

Cellnex manages a portfolio of more than 130,000 sites –including forecast roll-outs up to 2030– in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Cellnex’s business is structured in four major areas: telecommunications infrastructure services; audiovisual broadcasting networks, security and emergency 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 100 indices. It is also present in the main sustainability indexes, such as CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), Sustainalytics, FTSE4Good, MSCI and Standard Ethics. Cellnex’s reference shareholders include Edizione, GIC, TCI, Blackrock, Canada Pension Plan, CriteriaCaixa, Wellington Management Group, Capital Group, FMR and Norges Bank.

For more information: https://www.cellnextelecom.com