The European Commission awards Cellnex six projects to enhance 5G infrastructure along transport corridors

Part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-2) programme

Cellnex will contribute to the deployment of 5G infrastructure in Europe, including the launch of a neutral host vehicle to infrastructure (V2X) communications network for safety and non-safety services, in four cross border transport corridors between Portugal, Spain and France.

These projects are part of the European Union and Cellnex shared strategy to boost the development and ecosystem of connected and automated mobility between large cities and transportation hubs, key step forward for enhancing emergency services, road network infrastructure, passenger experience, and intermodal transportation of goods.

Lisbon, 3 January 2023. Today the European Commission announced it has awarded Cellnex six projects (4 works[1] and 2 studies[2]) for the deployment of 5G infrastructure in cross-border corridors. The works will cover two road corridors linking Spain with France (Barcelona – Montpellier/Toulouse and Bilbao – Bordeaux) and two corridors linking Spain with Portugal (Salamanca – Porto – Vigo and Mérida – Évora). The two studies include linking Italy and Austria and the EUMOB project with Abertis. As essential enabler for connected and automated mobility in the future, this infrastructure will ultimately benefit EU citizens and industry.

The main objective of these projects, which are part of the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-2) Digital programme, is to provide high-quality, uninterrupted 5G connectivity for road safety services, and to provide connectivity services to vehicle users and passengers along these corridors. To achieve this, Cellnex will deploy 34 new telecommunication sites (including distributed antenna systems –DAS—in tunnels), where it plans to work with mobile operators using its neutral host model, complemented by a V2X communications infrastructure network and edge computing nodes to provide 5G connectivity to more than 1,400 km of these four cross-border corridors.

Together, the projects will represent an overall investment of c.€24 million, 50% of which will be financed by the European Commission. These projects will be initiated in January 2023 and are expected to be completed by December 2025.

Eduardo Fichmann, Global Director of Innovation and Product Strategy at Cellnex, underlined “Cellnex is investing in the benefit that digitalising these road corridors will bring, not only for connected vehicles but also for road network managers, emergency services, logistics and fleet operators as well as passengers themselves.” He encouraged “mobile operators and the various public and private actors in the mobility sector to join the project and collaborate in developing new services that will be possible thanks to the roll-out of these infrastructures.”

Albert Cuatrecasas, Nuno Carvalhosa, Vincent Cuvillier, Gianluca Landolina and Peter Haupt, the Managing Directors of Cellnex in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Austria respectively, said: “We are proud to be able to provide support, in our respective countries, to the European roadmap to provide continuous and quality connectivity of cross-border road networks, thus promoting improved mobility, road safety and economic development of their areas of influence.”

The 5G corridors initiative is one of the multi-country projects of the EU Digital Decade Strategy. CEF Digital envisions establishing a pan-European transport network of 5G corridors by 2027. These infrastructures are seen as key enablers for deploying tomorrow’s connected and automated mobility. They will also serve to strengthen the digitalisation of rail operations and provide services beyond the transport sector in areas surrounding the corridors, including rural areas.

Cellnex already has experience in similar deployments that advance the mobility of the future. As leader and coordinator of the 5GMED project, co-funded by the European Commission, it is developing cross-border 5G application scenarios in advanced cooperative connected and automated mobility services (CCAM) and the future rail mobile communications system (FRMCS) in the Mediterranean Corridor, between Figueras and Perpignan. Also, through the Cellnex Mobility Lab located at the Parcmotor circuit in Castellolí (Barcelona), the company designs, develops and tests the future of connectivity infrastructures with a strong focus on their sustainability and their applications for connected and autonomous vehicles.

About Cellnex Telecom

The efficient deployment of next-generation connectivity is essential to drive technological innovation and accelerate inclusive economic growth. Cellnex is the independent wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures operator that enables operators to access Europe’s most extensive network of advanced telecommunications infrastructures 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 than 138,000 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 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 100 indices. It is also present in the main sustainability indices, such as Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Sustainalytics, FTSE4Good and MSCI.

[1] Rollout

[2] Design and feasibility study