This deployment makes the Orange Vélodrome the first French stadium to benefit from this level of 5G connectivity, equipping it to meet the high demands of fans, organisers, and the media ahead of major sports events like the next Olympique de Marseille matches and various international competitions.
“Connecting an indoor environment to the latest generation of 5G, which can be used by almost 68,000 people at the same time, is a real technical challenge. To connect the Orange Vélodrome, Totem has built the first network of its kind in France, capable of meeting the connectivity needs of the biggest sports events," said Thierry Papin, CEO of Totem France.
"The equipment deployed by Totem is the same successfully deployed solution at major competitions in the US and will make the Orange Vélodrome the first stadium in France to have such advanced 5G connectivity.”
Specifically, Totem has deployed Distributed Antenna System (DAS) infrastructure with advanced antennas designed for venues with high mobile phone usage to provide consistent network coverage and high levels of energy efficiency.
This network of private antennas is available to all operators to provide all their mobile services simultaneously, while giving Orange Vélodrome teams a single point of contact.
As of today, the four French operators, Bouygues Télécom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR, have connected their equipment to the antenna infrastructure deployed by Totem and can now offer 5G to their end customers within the Orange Vélodrome.
Orange launched Totem in 2021, in an attempt to strengthen its position as a manager and operator of passive mobile infrastructure and to benefit from new sources of growth. At the time Totem's passive mobile infrastructure comprised over 26,000 sites in France and Spain. Totem France will manage 18,500 macro-sites while Totem Spain will manage 7,900.
