It has installed 5G equipment more than 4,300 sites to bring coverage to 37 million people.
Telefónica has closed its first quarter with 5G coverage of 80% of the Spanish population. It has installed more than 4,300 nodes bringing coverage to more than 37 million inhabitants and 1,253 municipalities from all over Spain.
The operator’s CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete (pictured) said, “The march of our 5G network last September was a level jump towards hyperconnectivity, which will change the future of Spain.”
He added, “Spain today leads the digital infrastructures in Europe with the most extensive fiber optic network and we will continue to do so with the deployment of 5G”.
Spectrum matters
Telefónica’s 5G network currently combines 5G Non-standalone (NSA) and dynamic spectrum sharing, but the company says it wil immediately deploy the 5G SA network once standardization is complete.
5G is only using the 3.5 Ghz bands while the middle bands (1800-2100MHz), are running 4G, but could be used for 5G’s new radio (NR) equipment that can run 4G and 5G at the same time.
Telefónica also expects to make use of the 700Mhz band this year after the spectrum auction.
Telefónica also launched Movistar Merger with 5G phones and more than 60 5G use cases with real customers in all areas of activity.
Security by Juniper
Telefónica has signed an agreement with Juniper Networks to implement its security platform for 5G.
It will deploy a Security Gateway SRX5800 platform which incorporates AI to protect the traffic and infrastructure.
To improve quality and capacity, it has launched two pilots running photonic meshes to support its IP Fusion Network in Spain to meet the expected growing demand for bandwidth brought about by the arrival of 5G.
They were carried out in collaboration with Nokia and Huawei on wavelength division multiplexing technology which supports its IP Fusion Network in Spain.