Telefonica teams up with Atletico Madrid for immersive 5G experience

Telefonica, technological partner of Atletico Madrid, has launched a new project at the La Liga club’s stadium that gives fans a new immersive way of enjoying matches using 5G and Virtual Reality (VR) technology. In collaboration with specialist startup mSurgery, the so-called ‘5G Multicam’ project allows users to watch games from various different angles on a tablet or Meta Quest Pro glasses.

The 5G-compatible devices receive images captured in real time by four 360-degree cameras located at various points on the field, combined with the HD image of the match and the SkyCam. Fans can then choose between the perspective of the north goal of Atletico’s pitch, that of the changing room tunnel, that of the stadium’s production control room or a view from the stands.

They can also access three pre-recorded scenes that capture the placement of the shirts in the locker room, the light show announcing the local team and a scene of fans celebrating. Telefonica added that the low-latency 5G signal sends live video footage from the 360-degree cameras to the cloud in less than 500 milliseconds for processing and subsequent viewing in the VR glasses.

In addition, fibre-optic networks are used to send the 4K video streams from the cameras to the servers at speeds of up to 12 Gpbs. The project debuted at the recent Atletico de Madrid versus Osasuna game and will be repeated at the game against Real Sociedad on 28 May.

Commenting on the project, Leonor Ostos, innovation manager at Telefónica Spain, said: “This immersive experience has been a technological challenge with which we wanted fans to enjoy football in an innovative and unprecedented way. The joint work with Atleti Lab – the club’s innovation division- in a stadium at the forefront of technology such as the Cívitas Metropolitano, has been essential to develop this use case. The capabilities of the latest technologies such as 5G and connectivity have been used to pave the way for a different way of enjoying sport that puts the fan at the centre of the experience”.