German operators boost 5G coverage in Munich ahead of auto show
The German Automotive Industry Association (VDA) and Messe Muenchen partnered to develop a new trade fair concept. For the first time, the exhibitor area of the IAA Mobility will extend over large parts of the Munich city area this year, with the so-called Summit in the exhibition halls, the Open Spaces at various locations in the inner-city area of Munich, and the Blue Lane as a test track between the Summit and Open Space areas.
Vodafone is activating 5G with more than 100 special indoor antennas across the exhibition grounds. These are designed to enhance indoor network coverage and are not much larger than a smoke detector, the operator said. 5G is available at the exhibition grounds for an area of 200,000 m2. Across Munich, Vodafone has activated 350 5G antennas at around 120 locations, including its recent introduction of standalone 5G with lower latency.
Telefonica has also expanded the O2 network at the site and around Munich, amid an expected large number of demonstrations of new vehicle technology. O2 is installing around 150 5G antennas and laying around 40 km of high-frequency cables in the 18 exhibition halls, three multi-storey car parks and three entrance halls. In addition, the 12-km Blue Lane, a part of the nearby A94 motorway reserved for testing new environmental technologies, has seamless 5G coverage.
Telekom and Messe München – a successful partnership Munich 5g
Telekom has already been a strategic network partner of Messe München in the mobile and fixed-network sectors for several years. For the International Motor Show (IAA MOBILITY), a partnership project between the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and Messe München GmbH, solutions were jointly sought to implement a new trade fair concept. For the first time, the exhibitor area of the IAA MOBILITY will extend over large parts of the Munich city area this year: with the so-called Summit in the exhibition halls, the Open Spaces at various locations in the inner-city area of Munich, and the Blue Lane as a test track between the Summit and Open Space areas.
The widespread distribution of the IAA MOBILITY event areas required an expansion of the broadband infrastructure beyond the trade fair center into large parts of the city. Messe München and Telekom intensified their strategic cooperation in this regard at an early stage in order to realize the required bandwidth expansion in both the 5G and fiber-optic networks.
Telekom’s 5G infrastructure for Messe München
With its 5G and fiber-optic solutions, Telekom is providing the required bandwidths for trade fair exhibitors, both in the exhibition halls and at the so-called Open Spaces and Blue Lane.
29 new 5G sites have been implemented in the city area by the start of the IAA. Telekom is thus ensuring comprehensive 5G coverage of the outdoor areas of the trade fair. Telekom already operates more than 400 5G sites in the city of Munich. In addition, 25 indoor sites supply the exhibition halls. In addition, there are four macro sites that ensure basic coverage in the outdoor areas. In just eleven months, one of the most modern public 5G networks was set up for Messe München. This included a complete upgrade of the entire antenna infrastructure at the trade fair center, which is now adapted to the 3.6 GHz network.
High-speed for exhibition halls and open space locations
In addition to the public 5G network, which ensures coverage for visitors at the exhibition center, Blue Lane and the seven Open Spaces, Telekom is also implementing a campus network for the trade fair in the halls, based on the public 5G network. Thanks to the Campus solution, the trade fair will be able to provide exhibitors with dedicated mobile coverage in the future. The “Campus M” solution prioritizes the mobile communications connection of the trade fair exhibitors and thus guarantees high-speed mobile network speeds, which are particularly important for sensitive 5G applications. At the same time, the connection of the Open Space locations in the city center area was implemented. Fiber-optic-based broadband connections offer exhibitors here upload and download speeds of up to 1 GB/s. The networking of the public spaces in the city center area provides exhibitors with high-performance broadband connections that enable a completely new trade fair experience. Munich 5g
Telekom and Messe München lay the foundation for the trade fair of the future
Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director Business Customers at Telekom Deutschland, expressed his satisfaction with the expansion of the cooperation with Messe München: “Telekom’s 5G network already reaches more than 66 million people in Germany. Together with Messe München and our customized 5G campus solutions, we are laying the foundation for the trade show of the future at IAA Mobility 2021.”
For the trade show and the automotive industry in general, the 5G network offers entirely new opportunities. “Digitization and communication are the drivers of the future – for us, that includes 5G. The network rollout at the Munich exhibition center during and also after the IAA MOBILITY enables our exhibitors to bring 5G-based services, such as autonomous driving, augmented reality or robotics, to life for customers on site. For us as an exhibition company, the 5G network also opens up new potential for the future, including in the area of Smart Fair. Advancing automation and sensor technology, coupled with 5G technology, can play a key role in the future and enable us as trade fair organizers to make exhibition operations even more effective and cost-efficient.” Klaus Dittrich, CEO of Messe München GmbH, describes the carrying power of the partnership milestones. Munich 5g
