Will Internet outages on public transport in the Ile-de-France region soon be history? This is what the promoters of the future line 15 of the Paris metro are hoping for, the southern section of which should be fully covered in 5G.
Bringing 5G to the underground of the Parisian suburbs is the arduous mission undertaken by Totem France, a subsidiary of Orange and operator responsible for the installation of telecom networks on the southern part of the future line 15 of the metro. . Encircling the towns bordering Paris, this section should be one of the first to ensure “digital continuity» perfect according to Thierry Papin, president of Totem France.
17,000 kilometers of fiber
Concretely, this means that transmitters connected to 4G or 5G antennas will be placed along the tunnels, approximately every 250 meters, to ensure efficient network connection and a permanent connection. The goal is to ensure that a user “who is on a call or watching a video stream» when returning underground can arrive at its destination “without there being any interruption“. In addition to the tunnels, this also requires connecting the halls and platforms of all the stations on the line.
In total, 17,000 kilometers of optical fiber have or will be deployed as part of the development work. “Optical fiber allows us to distribute as close as possible to amplifiers without disrupting signal quality», Explained Thierry Papin to AFP. It is also a means of allowing the cities concerned to benefit from “these very efficient means of communication“.
The “Grand Paris Express” (made up of the future line 15, but also lines 16, 17 and 18, also under construction) should accommodate more than 3 million travelers per day and therefore almost as many smartphones. A small challenge for the operators responsible for deploying the mobile network in the Parisian tunnels.
A major challenge
Already in 2022, Thierry Papin explained that “these are trains with more than 1,000 passengers, which will travel at 60 km/h. In other words, it goes faster and there are more people.» Anyone who has ever taken the train once in their life knows that jumping from one antenna to another at high speed is not often synonymous with quality of connection. In addition, the railway environment is “extremely constrained», whether in terms of installing the cables 60 meters underground, but also in terms of heat evacuation. Installing 4G/5G transmitters is therefore a significant logistical challenge.
The line which connects Pont de Sèvre station to Noisy-Champs station should open in 2025. It remains to be seen whether the network will be ready or if, as with the coverage of the intramural metro, the project will take longer than expected.
Source : AFP, The echoes
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