IFEMA Feria de Madrid in Spain has announced it will be partnering with Vodafone to deploy a 5G network across the entire exhibition venue.
IFEMA will be the first venue in Spain to make use of the technology, which will supply the 35,000 exhibitors and 4 million visitors who come every year.
The current 5G network allows for speeds of up to 1Gbps, reduces latency to less than 5 milliseconds, and allows the number of objects connected to the network to be multiplied by 100.
It also enables the development of new multimedia services and applications that require ultra-fast connections, as well as new business models linked to the Internet of Things or virtual reality.
The venue also hosted the “Let's 5G European Forum” on 24 October, which showcased the technology to more than 500 representatives of the Spanish economic and industrial world.
Eduardo López-Puertas, CEO of IFEMA, commented: “This agreement represents the spearhead of the transformation undertaken by IFEMA, by opening up to the digital world and the advances in connectivity, communication, and innovative services that will soon be put into effect, with the collaboration of Vodafone and with the implementation of 5G technology at the Feria de Madrid site”.
Daniel Jiménez, CEO of Vodafone Business Spain, added: “Leading the arrival of 5G to Europe is a pride, but also a huge responsibility, considering how it can transform the entire business ecosystem.
“Making a commercial 5G network available to an innovation leader such as IFEMA and working with them in the development of real 5G solutions is a unique opportunity to revolutionise trade show environments around the world”.
