| Location | France – Toulouse metropolitan area |
| Sectors | City services Education Transport Start-ups and small enterprises |
| Network type | 5G Mobile Private Network |
| Project start - end date (duration) | 1 January 2023 ‑ 31 December 2025 (36 months) |
| Total budget | €3.7 million |
| EU contribution | €2.8 million |
| Lead entity / organisations | Toulouse Métropole |
| Beneficiaries and partners | Alsatis: Mobile Network Operator (MNO) |
By offering 5G connectivity across the Toulouse metropolitan area, the city will be able to use smart and innovative solutions to improve its public services as well as offer more opportunities for students, academics and businesses.
What will it provide?
The Hi5 network will enable and support the Métropole’s public services, as well as Services of General Interest and Services of General Economic Interest offered by public and private entities, specifically in the areas of traffic management, public safety, education, small enterprises and start-ups, and events.
How will it work?
The network’s high-speed connectivity will initially allow the Metropolitan area of Toulouse to:
- Employ smart traffic management as well as video surveillance for the city’s public spaces and transport;
- Improve community management of interventions on roads, digital and electrical networks, with the possibility of new services for public lighting;
- Offer ultra‑high speed net‑based services for start‑ups and small enterprises;
- Enable innovative approaches in teaching and academic research for the University of Blagnac’s technology courses;
- Flexibly deploy recording and communication equipment to support security and emergency services during outdoor events;
- Develop innovation zones;
- Improve mobility services by enabling community analysis and resolution of problems.
How will it be built?
The project will build on the Métropole’s large existing data centre infrastructure, high points and optical fibres, to create a resilient and independent 5G private infrastructure at low operating costs.
The 5G private network will be based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technologies and will include:
- A mobile packet core solution providing reliable data connectivity in a private wireless environment;
- Baseband Units (BBU) to be installed in each identified area for the management of multiple radio units;
- 19 radio units: 5G pico, micro and macro cells installed in the different identified areas.
The Metropolitan fibre network will be used for connecting the radio unit to the BBUs and core network.
The network will have a geo‑redundant 5G core network installed in two data centres in Toulouse, including the Toulouse Aerospace Innovation Centre.
In terms of functionality:
- User Plane Function (UPF) will be deployed in each area of interest to allow local traffic breakout;
- End‑to‑end (E2E) management will be installed in the same location as the core network, in order to manage the radio network components as well as the services relating to getting the components operational and integrated with each other as well as with the core network, so that data connectivity is provided;
- Group communications services will include Mission Critical Push‑to‑Talk (MCPTT) and Mission Critical Push‑to‑Video (MCPTV) services and Geographic Information System for location / positioning services;
- Scene Analytics services will use computer vision (CV) technology and machine learning (ML) techniques to determine scenes of interest and produce metadata about scenes the cameras are viewing;
- The group communication and scene analytics services will be installed on edge computing infrastructure located on each area of interest, at the same location as the UPF and Next Generation Node Base Station (gNB).
To ensure data sovereignty and security, all processing will be carried out locally (edge) or in the Toulouse metropolitan data centre.
How is it financed?
The Hi5 project has a total budget of €3.7 million, of which €2.8 million under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme. With regard to long-term financing, the project is envisioned as a demonstration phase which may lead to a second, scaling up phase, enabling the Métropole to make a strategic transition to digital public services, particularly in terms of mobility.
Who is involved?
The Hi5 project is run by a multidisciplinary consortium, including:
- Alsatis: Mobile Network Operator (MNO)
- Toulouse Métropole: offering the Services of General Interest (SGI)
How can I find out more about the project?
The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)
Contact HaDEA
Read more:
- Presentation
- Hi5 webpage (on the website of Alsatis)
Related websites and social media: