Telefónica, in collaboration with Nokia, is this week demonstrating a drone management service at the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona. The proposal, based on Telefónica’s 5G network and the GSMA Open Gateway, is designed to enable the safe, efficient and scalable integration of autonomous drone operations in airspace.
The company says 2025 is a key year for the use of drones, as the gradual entry into force of U-Space regulations will allow more advanced and complex operations in European airspace.
Telefónica’s Open Gateway 5G drones demo is based on three fundamental pillars: firstly, the 5G network combined with Open Gateway, which offers high-speed connectivity and the application of APIs that facilitate the planning and execution of safe and efficient flights, which in turn allows risk anticipation and route optimisation. Secondly, in artificial intelligence and computational power applied to drones, allowing drones to perform complex tasks such as monitoring, control and predictive maintenance of critical infrastructure, delivery of materials or even fire prevention, among others. Finally, in Telefónica’s remote control centre, the drones and their automated nests, located tens or even hundreds of kilometres away, are monitored and managed from any location in Spain. This includes flight planning, real-time monitoring and preventive maintenance.
Nokia Drone Networks’ 5G-based “drone in a box” system with an open software architecture and integration with both private and public networks is part of an ongoing collaboration between Telefónica and Nokia for the benefit of public safety and mission-critical industries.
To demonstrate the possibilities offered by autonomous drone flight planning, Telefónica is showing three use cases in Barcelona with real applications integrated with the AirborneRF platform from Dimetor and Open Gateway’s 5G network capabilities.
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