Deutsche Telekom is providing a 5G Standalone (SA) private network to broadcaster RTL Deutschland at the latter company’s broadcasting center in Cologne, to boost coverage of the UEFA Euro 2024 football contest. The project positions RTL at the first TV production company in Germany to connect to studios using its own private 5G network.
Regardless of what’s going on the mobile network, claimed Deutsche Telekom, network slicing — a key capability enabled by 5G SA — should provide RTL with “flawless” live broadcasts to an event site.
The network uses core equipment from Ericsson and has two indoor and four outdoor antennas. It will cover an area of more than 35,000 square meters, including public spaces. According to the companies, the SA infrastructure will handle “data-intensive applications” with sub-25 millisecond response rates, supporting RTL’s wireless cameras, microphones and intercoms. Deutsche Telekom stated further that data upload rates of 500 Mb/s are anticipated, with the network operating in the 3.7 GHz to 3.8 GHz range and delivering up to 100 megahertz of bandwidth.
“Thanks to its network architecture with 5G standalone technology, the 5G Private Campus Network fulfils the high requirements of live TV production, including important functions such as minimum response times and high bandwidths,” commented Klaus Werner, the managing director for business customers at Telekom Deutschland.