Mark Allen Exhibitions managing director Tim Willoughby said: “Telefonica’s presence at CCW is a huge coup, and we’re incredibly pleased that they’ve decided to be involved. They are a major company, with a long history of innovation and putting the user front and centre.”

TCCA chief executive, Tony Gray, said: “We are delighted to have the support of such an established international operator at this year’s Critical Communications World."

Alongside the deployment, Vodafone has announced that it will be rolling out a 5G network covering the whole the IFEMA, which is a major event facility in Madrid. The venue – which will host this year’s Critical Communications World – will be the first of its kind in Spain to take advantage of the increased capacity and reduced latency promised by 5G.

The deployment is taking place following a ‘collaboration framework agreement,’ enabling the “development of innovative projects based on 5G connectivity in the environment provided by the IFEMA-LAB Foundation.” Implementation began this month in order to accommodate the 5G European Forum, which met for the first time at the end of October 2019.
 
Speaking of the roll-out, Daniel Jiménez, CEO of Vodafone Business Spain, said: “Leading the arrival of 5G to Europe is a [source of] pride, but also a matter of huge responsibility, particularly considering how it [could] 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.”
 
The IFEMA receives more than four million visitors a year, as well as 35,000 exhibitors. Key stakeholder in the European 5G Forum include Altran, Cisco and Samsung.

Critical Communications World 2021 takes place 3-5 November at the IFEMA in Madrid - register and join us at CCW 2021.