4G is now operational on 100% of the RATP network. More than 300 kilometers of cables were drawn to cover the needs of the 304 Parisian metro stations. Travelers can now access very high speed mobile broadband in stations and in tunnels on board trains. “Gare de Lyon was one of the first to be covered. 4G data traffic has multiplied by 6”, explains Michel Cordival, director of telecommunications at RATP, to RTL. In late November, the Zone5G site reported that nearly 80% of the RATP network was covered by 4G.
Initially fixed at the end of 2017, then postponed to the end of 2019, the deployment of the mobile broadband Internet network in all metro and RER stations was slowed down by a number of technical difficulties, mainly due to the small size of the stations where the equipment of telecom operators is installed.
The four telephone operators (Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, SFR and Orange) were responsible for the construction of this underground network. “2,500 hours of work and 2,000 interventions were necessary to install the antennas which make it possible to propagate the signal along the tunnel to ensure continuity between two stations “, explains to RTL Philippe Laplane, network director at Orange. The work was done mainly at night.
The facilities are scalable and it will be resolutely easy now to equip the metro with 5G in the years to come.
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