The city of Madrid is enhancing its emergency services through a new initiative involving Orange and Ericsson. This collaboration enables Madrid’s emergency responders to access a dedicated network slice on Orange’s 5G Standalone network, maintained through Ericsson Radio Access Network and Core technologies.
The network slice provides dedicated resources for the city’s police, fire brigades, and medical teams. This setup ensures high-speed connectivity and traffic prioritization even during network congestion. Features include Ericsson Ultra Compact Core and radios that dynamically connect to either the public 5G network or emergency spectrum (Band 68), based on the situation. This technology promises rapid deployment capabilities, crucial if ground infrastructures face damage.
A key advantage of this network is resilience. It provides emergency teams with autonomy and non-disrupted communication when public networks are unavailable. “The architecture is designed with autonomous energy and redundancy,” states the release, ensuring high resilience of the communication network. An example includes firefighting teams streaming live video from helmets for real-time risk assessments.
The collaboration highlights public safety applications of 5G, focusing on reliability and speed during emergencies. According to Somaya El Marrakchi from Ericsson, “Our partnership with Orange shows how industry collaboration can transform urban public safety.” This strategic alliance aims to replicate the resilient, scalable communication model across Spain and beyond.
Joaquín Colino of MasOrange emphasized the importance of such technology in securing Madrid’s place in European public safety innovation. He noted that the project provides secure and uninterrupted communications crucial for emergency services.
This innovation aligns with previous efforts by Ericsson, such as their work with UK Connect for Surrey Search and Rescue, which transitioned from paper maps to enhanced digital networks, improving emergency outcomes significantly.
Through strategic collaborations and innovative technology integration, Madrid sets a benchmark in leveraging 5G for enhanced public safety and emergency readiness.
