Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Rome 5G Shows How Neutral Host Infrastructure Can Modernise a Historic City

Deploying better mobile connectivity in a modern city is rarely straightforward. Doing it in Rome, where much of the historic centre is protected and almost every street seems to contain something of archaeological or architectural significance, takes the challenge to another level.

This makes the Roma 5G project particularly interesting from a telecoms infrastructure perspective. Rather than relying simply on more conventional macro sites, the project combines neutral host infrastructure, small cells, fibre, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), Wi-Fi and IoT infrastructure to improve connectivity while minimising the impact on the city itself.

The project was originally led by Boldyn Networks through a 25-year public-private partnership with Roma Capitale. The original plan included more than 2,200 small cells, public Wi-Fi across 100 squares, around 1,800 IoT modules, 2,000 connected cameras and extensive mobile coverage across the Rome Metro.

One of the biggest challenges is obvious when walking around central Rome. Large towers and conspicuous new infrastructure are simply not suitable in many areas. The Boldyn case study explains that existing urban infrastructure, including lamp posts and bus shelters, could instead be used as mounting locations for small cells. This allows capacity to be placed closer to users while keeping the radio equipment relatively unobtrusive.

This is an increasingly important aspect of mobile network densification. In very busy locations, improving capacity is not necessarily about building another large macro site. A layer of smaller radio nodes, supported by fibre and integrated with existing street furniture, can provide capacity exactly where it is required.

Rome provides an unusually demanding example of this approach because infrastructure deployment also has to coexist with archaeological restrictions, visual-impact requirements and huge numbers of residents and visitors.

The project goes beyond outdoor small cells. The Metro is another major part of the connectivity problem.

The original project envisaged 4G and 5G coverage through the stations and tunnels, creating a shared infrastructure that could be used by the mobile operators. The network uses a multi-operator Distributed Antenna System, with fibre and radio infrastructure carrying the operators' services through the underground environment.

This is important because neutral host infrastructure avoids every operator having to independently install essentially the same physical infrastructure. A shared fibre, DAS and antenna layer can support multiple operators while reducing duplication, construction work, cost and disruption.

The same principle applies above ground. The infrastructure is designed to be open to mobile network operators rather than acting as another competing mobile network. Neutral hosting effectively separates ownership of much of the physical connectivity infrastructure from the retail mobile services running over it.

This is arguably one of the most interesting lessons from Roma 5G.

As networks become denser, particularly in city centres, transport systems, stadiums, airports and other high-footfall locations, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify every operator installing a completely separate set of infrastructure. Shared infrastructure can provide a more practical way of achieving the required density.

The project has evolved considerably since Boldyn published its original case study.

In October 2024, INWIT acquired a controlling 52.08% stake in Smart City Roma, the project company originally known as Boldyn Networks Smart City Roma. Boldyn remained involved in the infrastructure build-out, while Smart City Roma became part of the INWIT Group.

Deployment has also moved from plans into operational infrastructure.

In April 2025, the first nine Metro A stations were activated with multi-operator 4G and 5G coverage, including connectivity through the tunnels between the stations. The infrastructure supports Fastweb-Vodafone, Iliad, TIM and WINDTRE.

By September 2025, coverage had been completed across all 27 stations and tunnels on Metro Line A, using more than 85 km of fibre and around 1,500 mini-antennas. At the same time the city was progressively activating Wi-Fi 6, cameras and other smart-city infrastructure across Rome's public squares.

The rollout has continued during 2026. INWIT reported that by the end of June, work had been completed across Lines B and B1, reaching 48 Metro stations overall, while deployment was under way at seven stations on Line C.

The outdoor network has also continued expanding. By March 2026, infrastructure including public Wi-Fi, IoT systems, cameras and small cells had reached 92 squares, and INWIT subsequently reported free Wi-Fi connectivity across 100 Rome squares during summer 2026.

There is an important distinction here between connectivity infrastructure and smart-city applications.

The network does not automatically make Rome a smart city. What it provides is the digital foundation on which applications can be built. The original plan included connected cameras, environmental sensors and other IoT systems, potentially supporting areas such as traffic management, public safety, environmental monitoring and waste management.

The diagram in the Boldyn case study provides a good summary of this layered approach. It combines indoor coverage for buildings, street-level sensors and cameras, outdoor small-cell coverage, Wi-Fi 6 in public squares, fibre connectivity and 4G/5G DAS throughout the Metro.

The result is therefore much more than a conventional mobile-network rollout.

It is effectively a shared digital infrastructure layer for the city, with different access technologies being used depending on the requirement: macro mobile where appropriate, small cells for street-level capacity, DAS underground, Wi-Fi for public access, fibre for transport and backhaul, and IoT connectivity for municipal applications.

The recently released Threads of Connectivity documentary, featured on National Geographic's digital platforms, looks at the challenge of bringing modern connectivity into two cities whose infrastructure was built long before anyone imagined mobile networks: Rome and New York. The Rome segment is particularly interesting because much of the successful infrastructure is deliberately designed not to be noticed.

That may ultimately be one of the most important lessons from Roma 5G.

As mobile networks continue to densify, the infrastructure supporting them may increasingly need to disappear into the environment rather than dominate it. Small cells integrated into street furniture, shared fibre, multi-operator DAS and neutral-host models make it possible to add significant network capacity while reducing duplication and visual impact.

Rome may be an extreme example because of its history and architecture, but the underlying problem is common to cities everywhere.

The future of urban mobile infrastructure may therefore be less about building more obvious mobile sites and more about creating a dense, shared and largely invisible connectivity layer woven into the city itself.

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Tuesday, 4 August 2026

Vodafone’s Robotic Antenna Trial Brings Physical AI to the Mobile Mast

In Tirana, Albania, Vodafone is testing an approach to mobile network optimisation that goes beyond software: physically rotating and tilting a mobile mast antenna using an AI-controlled mechanical positioning unit supplied by HUMAX Networks.

Vodafone describes the trial as an early example of “Physical AI” in telecoms. Its algorithm analyses network demand and local conditions, decides where coverage is most needed and instructs the mechanism to reposition the antenna. The company says the system can also consider factors such as the weather when determining where to focus the strongest signal.

The trial site overlooks a busy shopping centre. Vodafone’s example is that the antenna can focus capacity towards shoppers during the day and then redirect coverage towards a nearby residential area as evening internet usage increases. Repositioning currently takes around 20 to 30 minutes. Vodafone says it could technically happen faster, but the movement has been deliberately slowed to reduce energy consumption.

The mechanism is not the large industrial robotic arm that the announcement’s headline might bring to mind. It is a compact antenna-positioning system installed between the panel and its supporting structure.

How the HUMAX OCRA system works

The equipment comes from HUMAX Networks and forms part of its OCRA solution, short for Optical Compass Robot Arm. The Optical Compass measures the antenna’s azimuth to establish its physical orientation, while the Robot Arm makes fine-grained rotation and tilt adjustments. An optional OC Controller can provide communication between OCRA and the operator’s server.

For the Vodafone trial, HUMAX says Vodafone’s AI-based system analysed real-time network conditions at the site, identified the preferred antenna orientation and instructed the Robot Arm to adjust the panel accordingly. HUMAX positions the technology as a way of responding more flexibly to changing traffic conditions while reducing the need to dispatch engineers to sites.

OCRA itself is not entirely new. HUMAX has previously described deployments associated with stadiums, major public events and Urban Air Mobility trials in South Korea. Its broader system can incorporate optical azimuth measurement, a controller and physical antenna alignment.

But remote antenna adjustment is not new

It is important to distinguish Vodafone’s trial from the remote antenna-control capabilities already used in mobile networks.

Operators have been using Remote Electrical Tilt, or RET, controlled through Antenna Interface Standards Group (AISG) interfaces, for many years. RET changes the vertical direction of the radio beam by adjusting components inside the antenna. The antenna panel, its mounting brackets and its physical bearing on the mast remain fixed.

AISG specifications also cover antenna functions such as Remote Azimuth Steering and Remote Azimuth Beamwidth. These can alter aspects of horizontal coverage in suitably designed antennas without mechanically rotating the complete antenna panel. The current AISG standards catalogue includes RET under AISG 3.0, while RAS and RAB remain listed among the AISG 2 extension specifications.

The difference is therefore not simply remote adjustment versus manual adjustment. It is electrical adjustment within a fixed antenna installation versus physical repositioning of the complete antenna panel.

The publicly available descriptions of Vodafone’s trial do not indicate that AISG is controlling the OCRA mechanism. Vodafone’s AI system appears to instruct the HUMAX positioning system through its own control arrangement. The antenna may separately support RET, but Vodafone does not identify this as part of the trial.

This also means that OCRA should not necessarily be considered a replacement for RET. The two approaches address different ranges and types of change.

Electrical tilt is well suited to fine-grained optimisation within the adjustment range designed into an antenna. Physical repositioning can change the antenna’s mechanical boresight and potentially redirect the sector towards a substantially different area.

Why physically move the antenna?

The most obvious advantage is the ability to redirect a sector without sending an engineer to realign the antenna manually.

Vodafone notes that a conventional physical adjustment may involve more than an engineer climbing a mast. Depending on the site, it can require access agreements, road closures, lifting equipment, planning permission and suitable weather conditions. Installing another antenna can take even longer.

A remotely controlled mechanical system could therefore be useful where the geographical distribution of demand changes significantly over time. Possible examples include:

  • Daily demand shifts: Shopping, business and residential districts with contrasting traffic patterns.
  • High-density events: Stadiums, festivals and other large temporary gatherings.
  • Seasonal demand: Coastal towns, ski resorts and other destinations with large seasonal variations.
  • Infrastructure disruption: Temporary coverage changes during major construction or transport disruption.
  • Aerial coverage: Urban Air Mobility corridors and drone routes requiring coverage above ground level.

These are not all use cases demonstrated in Vodafone’s Albania trial, but they follow from HUMAX’s previous work around high-density events and Urban Air Mobility, as well as the system’s ability to change physical azimuth and tilt.

There are also practical questions that would need to be considered before wider deployment. Moving equipment introduces mechanical components that must withstand wind, rain, temperature changes and repeated operation over many years. Operators would need to understand maintenance requirements, energy consumption, movement accuracy and the consequences of a mechanism becoming stuck in an unsuitable position.

Any significant sector redirection would also need to be coordinated with neighbouring cells. Moving one antenna can change interference patterns, coverage overlaps, handover boundaries and traffic distribution across the surrounding network. The AI decision cannot therefore be based only on demand at an individual site. It needs visibility of the wider RAN and suitable performance guardrails.

The bigger story is closed-loop network automation

The robotic mechanism is visually interesting, but the more important development is the closed loop connecting network intelligence with physical infrastructure.

Vodafone’s algorithm observes conditions, determines the preferred orientation and instructs the antenna system to act without waiting for a human decision. That moves network automation beyond changing software parameters and into controlling the physical configuration of the site.

Vodafone says the project is also intended to feed into its wider open, standards-based platform for automating RAN components. This could allow internal teams and third-party developers to create optimisation algorithms that treat antennas as active elements of an adaptive RAN.

In future, an autonomous system could potentially select between several optimisation options. A small coverage correction might be achieved using electrical tilt. A change in beam shape or horizontal steering might be possible within the antenna. A more substantial redirection could justify physically repositioning the panel.

Vodafone has not said that the Tirana system currently selects between all these methods. However, the trial points towards networks in which AI has a growing range of electrical and physical controls available to it.

Whether robotic antenna positioning becomes common will depend on the operational and commercial results. Operators will need to determine how often large physical changes are genuinely required, whether the performance gains justify the additional hardware and how reliably the mechanism operates over the full life of a mobile site.

Nevertheless, the trial is a useful reminder that autonomous networks will not be limited to software running in a data centre. Increasingly, intelligence may also control what happens at the top of the mast.

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