Septembre 7th, 2023 – On the occasion of the Rugby World Cup, which will be held in France from September 8th to October 28th 2023, Transatel (a subsidiary of NTT) has won the tender organized by Toulouse Métropole to ensure the continuity of cellular connectivity services. Thanks to Transatel’s multi-operator SIM cards, law enforcement and emergency services will be able to carry out their critical missions in the field while remaining securely connected, within the perimeter and beyond the Toulouse Metropole’s sovereign 5G mobile private network.
The proliferation of “private” 4G/5G connectivity infrastructures in factories, hospitals, stadiums, universities, ports and airports is making interoperability of private and public cellular networks essential, especially for emergency services. Law enforcement officers, ambulance drivers and firefighters are constantly on the move, and need to be able to stay connected and make calls without interruption as they pass through areas respectively covered by public and/or private cellular networks. This will be the case during the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Toulouse, which will be the largest fan zone in France.
As a winner of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Digital) call for projects, Toulouse Métropole invested in its own shared, multiservice 5G and IP/MPLS infrastructure, in order to offer very high-speed mobile access services to innovation zones and improve municipal services. However, the Toulouse metropolis needed to find a partner capable of ensuring the interoperability of its infrastructure with mobile operators’ networks, to guarantee the continuity of service required by its users, securely and at a reasonable cost.
“Right from the start of the Hi5 experiment, we wanted to improve our network connectivity and sovereignty by relying on mobile carriers’ 5G networks, which is why we chose Transatel for the operability of their solution and their ability to adapt quickly to our specific needs and requirements. Initial continuity tests have been conclusive, and we look forward to future phases of experimentation.” says Joe di Marco, in charge of the Digital Infrastructure Organizing Authority at Toulouse Métropole.
“We are delighted to have been selected by Toulouse Métropole and to contribute to the smooth running of this World Cup. This demonstrates the relevance of our technical solution for manufacturers and local authorities who need to operate beyond the perimeter of their own private 4G/5G networks.” adds Jacques Bonifay, Transatel CEO and co-founder.
Co-funded by the European Union, the implementation of Toulouse Métropole’s sovereign 5G HI5 (high connectivity via 5G) mobile private network will have the following main use cases:
- Group communication during public events such as the Rugby World Cup 2023
- Training students in 5G applications
- High-speed connectivity for rural areas with poor fiber-optic coverage
- Real-time analysis of video streams to improve security
- Fast video loading on the move (in the Toulouse metro)
For more information on Transatel’s 4G/5G private network extension solution, please visit https://www.transatel.com/iot/private-cellular-networks/