- Boldyn has a big week for public and private deals
- It has designed – with Nokia gear – a private network at a port in the Canary Islands
- Meanwhile, it is also deploying small cells in London and increasing the tunnel coverage in the NYC subway
Boldyn has kicked off a big week with a 5G private network for the largest container port in the Canary Islands, as well as a large small cell neutral host deployment in London and continuing work with the MTA to deploy neutral host 5G in the New York subway.
Private network
Boldyn is designing, deploying and will operate a 5G private network for Operaciones Portuarias Canarias SA (OPCSA) at the container terminal at the Port of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, just off the coast of the Africa. Boldyn will use Nokia gear and its Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) platform to help design and operate the private 5G network.
Boldyn said that part of the aim of the private 5G network is digitalizing rubber tired gantry (RTG) mobile cranes, where the onboard PCs for the cranes are located 20 meters high, as well as monitoring ship-to-shore (STS) cranes that stand over 100 meters tall. The 5G access can save money by reducing the work needed to install fiber optic connections to such high-rise derricks.
The company also noted that workers could be equipped with 5G-compatible tablets for container logistics and maintenance. There are quite a lot more 5G industrial tablets available for enterprises to use these days.
The port private network is the largest in the Canary Islands but by no means the biggest in the world, said James Bennett, director at SNS Telecom & IT. “We would describe OPCSA's terminal as a medium-scale facility compared to most other container terminals in the U.S, China and other markets where private networks have been deployed,” he said.
London small cells
Meanwhile, Boldyn said that it has deployed 200-plus 5G small cells around busy areas of London, in the latest demonstration in support of its claim to be one of the major suppliers of neutral host systems in the world. A neutral host is a third-party provider of shared mobile infrastructure that multiple mobile operators can use simultaneously to deliver mobile coverage.
Deployments in the city cover areas such as areas such as King’s Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge, Old Street, The Shard and Hyde Park Corner.
The small cells use the Transport for London (TfL) ducts that run under the sidewalk linking assets like traffic lights and closed circuit TV networks to TfL’s head office. Boldyn can connect the small cells through the ducts.
Boldyn said that it was able to access more than 80,000 fiber-connected street assets, 243 miles (2000 kilometers) of ducts and 248 miles (400 kilometers) of underground fiber, without the need for new permits. As we know, permitting is one of the biggest hurdles operators face when deploying new assets, making Boldyn’s arrangement a major time saver.
“Small cells are a critical part of our mobile network, boosting capacity and performance in the busiest locations and at the busiest times. Our partnership with Boldyn is helping us to accelerate our network densification plans across London,” said James Hope, director of mobile radio access at EE said in a statement about the deal.
Subway 5G
Meanwhile, Boldyn is continuing its project with the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) to roll out a neutral host 5G system for all three major mobile operators in the subway tunnels in New York City. The Joralemon Street tunnel 5G is now switched on, enabling 4 and 5 train riders in the oldest underwater subway tunnel in the city – stretching 1.2 miles between Manhattan and Brooklyn – to access Candy Crush on their 5G phones even when underwater.
The project has already added 5G connectivity to the 42nd street shuttle and the L train between eastern Manhattan and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The G train line between Brooklyn and Queens will be next.
This is a long-term project for Boldyn, started in 2022, to build out 5G and Wi-Fi access in all the underground subway stations in the New York system. Boldyn bought Transit Wireless – the company originally doing this – in February 2023.
It will offer neutral host phone service underground for all three major providers with the service. It already offers that for AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the subway stations. AT&T is the first to turn on service in the Joralemon tunnel.