The arrival of Pope Leo XIV to our country is mobilizing not only hundreds of thousands of faithful, but also large strategic companies such as Telefónica. The telecommunications company has launched one of the largest network deployments carried out to date in Spain to guarantee communications during the papal visit, which will take place between June 6 and 12.
“We have never had the challenge of reporting this amount of data around the world at the same time”says Clara Casas, Director of Network Support and Services at Telefónica Spain.
The operator, main technological collaborator of the pastoral tour, has worked for the last four months in a reinforcement plan that covers Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islandsterritories through which the Supreme Pontiff will pass and where massive concentrations of attendees are expected. In the Puerta de Alcalá area (Madrid) alone there will be more than a million people who will try to share photographs, videos or make video calls simultaneously.
To respond to this challenge and avoid incidents, Telefónica has reinforced more than 1,300 network points, deployed four high-capacity 5G mobile units, enabled 10 tactical satellite connections and laid more than 20 kilometers of additional fiber optics in different strategic locations.
Besides, More than 60 professionals will be dedicated to supervising the infrastructure from the National Supervision and Operation Center (CNSO) of Madrid, which will operate 24 hours a day throughout the visit.
A challenge greater than that of large concerts and events
The company assures that the complexity of this operation exceeds that of other large events held in Spain. Unlike concerts or sporting events, where the concentration of people is limited to a single venue, The Pope’s visit requires coverage in multiple locations to be guaranteed. “It is not a specific point, it is a whole journey,” says Casas.
The mobile units function as temporary antennas capable of providing 3G, 4G and 5G coverage in areas of high concentration of the public. so that they can operate even in emergency situations or loss of connectivity. From Telefónica they explain that some of these units have already been used previously in forest fires and other critical situations to restore communications in affected areas such as the DANA in Valencia.
Traffic up to 50 times higher than usual
Internal forecasts indicate that certain times of the visit could generate traffic spikes up to 50 times higher than usual levels when thousands of attendees try to share content simultaneously from their mobile phones.
Even so, Telefónica assures that essential services will be protected. Emergency communications, security forces and public services have specific resources within the network to prevent specific saturation from affecting critical calls.
An investment that will leave permanent improvements
This network deployment has involved a significant economic investment that has mobilized hundreds of professionals from different areas during the last months for its implementation.
Part of the actions carried out will remain operational once the visit concludes.. New fiber runs, network optimizations and other structural improvements will continue to serve residents and businesses in affected areas, while resources designed for large concentrations, such as mobile units, will be retired after the event.
“Our commitment is to be the best way for citizens to access digital technologies. Therefore, In this visit of Pope Leo XIV to Spain, we put all our technological, innovative and human capacity at the service of the hundreds of thousands of expected attendees.; public and emergency services; the organization; the media and volunteers, to guarantee them a network that provides a robust, reliable and secure connectivity service”, concludes Clara Casas.