Telefónica and Sony test ultra-fast 5G at Movistar Arena

The pilot project in Spain was designed to demonstrate how the technology can support thousands of people intensively using mobile data at an event, while also enabling a TV broadcast with multiple video feeds that require real-time transmission of large amounts of data.

The trial tested a new configuration called Heavy Uplink, or a network optimised for uplink bandwidth, designed to deliver exceptionally high upload speeds.

At the Movistar Arena, upload speeds of over 1.8 Gbps were achieved, the highest speed deployed to date on a commercial 5G network in Spain.

This capacity is reportedly key for activities such as live video broadcasting or remote audiovisual production in environments with very high traffic. ​

The pilot was carried out in collaboration with Sony, which tested the operation of a 5G audiovisual broadcasting system based on elements such as the CBK-RPU7 remote production unit for ultra-low latency HEVC video encoding.

The 4K ultra-high-definition image captured by HXC-FZ90 was transmitted after encoding up to 100Mbps, to a 5G network via Sony’s PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter and then decoded by an NXL-ME80 media processor.

Leonor Ostos, Director of Product and Service Development at Telefónica Spain, said: “This installation in the 26 GHz 5G band at the Movistar Arena demonstrates our commitment to next-generation networks. This technology enables use cases involving the management of large volumes of data in real time, driving both professional use within the industry and a superior connected experience for the public at mass events such as concerts and major sporting events.”

Rob Thorne, Category Head of Networked Live at Sony Professional Europe, said: “5G promises greater flexibility for production companies, but bandwidth and architecture limitations have held it back until now. By combining the 5G mmWave technology deployed at the Movistar Arena, with Sony's unique HEVC solution, we're proving that 5G can meet the high-quality, low-latency demands of live production today”.

A collection of broadcasters and technology suppliers recently called on mobile operators to enable standardised, interoperable, quality on-demand (QoD) network application programming interfaces (APIs) for live 5G broadcasts. Discover more here.