Orange renews its sponsorship with Mad Cool and paves the way for future live events with its advanced 5G+ network

Powered by the latest mobile technology, the virtual reality experience this year will be supercharged with the addition of Orange’s Standalone (SA) network (5G+ being Orange's commercial name for 5G SA), making not only music festival history, but shaping the very future of major live events.

Orange Spain has renewed its sponsorship with the Mad Cool Festival, one of Europe’s most celebrated music festivals that is held annually in Madrid, Spain. Together with its technology partner, Ericsson, it will combine high performing new technology with virtual reality glasses and panoramic event images to continue blurring the lines between festivalgoers’ physical and digital worlds.

Attendees who approach the Orange stand will be able to experience, in a fully immersive and real-time way, everything that happens on Mad Cool’s main stages from a truly unique point of view: as if they were on stage, standing right next to their favorite artist. This will include headline acts such as Robbie Williams, Lizzo, Sam Smith, Mumford & Sons, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Janelle Monáe. To make the experience even more accessible to all festivalgoers, the panoramic images will also be projected on the Orange stand’s videowall.

"This year, we once again want to celebrate this event by guaranteeing the best connectivity, both for the audience and the organizers, through our state-of-the-art networks. In addition, and thanks to our network and virtual reality, we will offer a unique experience to attendees by unifying the digital and human worlds in what we hope will be an unforgettable fashion,” explains Sonia Rico, Brand and Communication Director at Orange.

In anticipation of a large influx of people, and to ensure the best experience for its customers, Orange deployed several mobile units and small cells (small antennas mimicked in the environment, connected to the mobile network through FTTN connections). This is in addition to deploying fiber throughout the festival site.

Orange is the first operator in Spain, the first of the Orange Group and one of the first in Europe to launch a 5G SA network. Powered by Ericsson’s cloud native dual-mode 5G Core, it greatly increases energy efficiency, making it a mobile network that cares for the planet. It also:

• Improves 5G indoor coverage.
• Reduces network response time.
• Allows for more devices to be connected simultaneously, thereby reducing battery consumption.
• Brings greater security to communications.

Orange has accelerated the deployment of its network to ensure that approximately 30 percent of the population in Spain will have access to the advanced capabilities of 5G SA by June 2023.

Tomás Alonso, head of marketing and communication, Ericsson Iberia, concludes: "As technology partners of Orange, we are very happy to be part of this milestone that enables entertainment and culture to be enjoyed in a much richer and sustainable way. The advanced capabilities of 5G Standalone technology, as enabled on Orange’s network, will mark the evolution of how we experience live events as we enable people to enjoy spectacular interactive and immersive services. The future of festivals starts now, with Mad Cool and Orange".