Telenet inks IoT partnership with Charleroi airport to create airport 3.0

Belgian cable operator Telenet has inked a five-year Internet of Things (IoT) contract with the Brussels South Charleroi Airport. Telenet IoT

This five-year collaboration aims to make BSCA a true ‘digital dome‘. Its main objective is to optimise the running of the airport and to improve the passengers’ experience from home right up to the boarding gate, thanks to digital solutions such as smart parking, optimisation of the Wi-Fi network available to the public, and the analysis of visitor location data.

BSCA, the second largest airport in Belgium and a true economic driver for the entire Walloon Region, has experienced a rapid growth of its activities in the past few years, with a continuing record number of visitors. Every day, some 25,000 passengers visit the airport. In order to improve the experience of travellers and visitors passing through its installations, the group intends to go a step further in its development by becoming a true smart airport, providing its customers with additional services and an innovative experience.

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As for Telenet, a key player in telecommunications and new technologies in Belgium (operating under the BASE and Telenet brands), it would like to play a more active role in the development of digital projects in Wallonia.

 

The partnership will initially focus on two concrete solutions

 

Passenger flow analysis BSCA and Telenet will develop a passenger and visitor flow mapping and analysis solution, which should allow BSCA management to better understand, manage, market and improve the general public’s movements in the airport.
Telenet will initially improve and increase the density of the airport’s Wi-Fi network and then provide BSCA with the location data of its visitors. BSCA’s management will then be able to study their movements in order to optimise airport organisation, offer them personalised services and guide them throughout their journey.

Telenet hopes to finalise the improvement of the Wi-Fi network and provide the airport with the first set of data in the course of 2019.

Connected smart parking system Telenet IoT

Following a satisfaction survey carried out by BSCA, parking is currently the main stress factor for passengers and visitors to the airport. Telenet and BSCA are therefore also going to develop a parking system together, aimed at considerably improving the user experience. It will therefore be possible to reserve and pay for a parking space online using the application. Smart cameras will then automatically recognise the registration plate at the car park entrance, while sensors connected by Telenet’s NB-IoT network will indicate free spaces. A first set of 500 spaces should be made available through this new system as of the summer of 2019.