MASMOVIL Group chooses the Zamudio/Derio Campus of the Euskadi Technology Park as the site for its new R&D and innovation centre

Located in Euskaltel’s facilities, it will promote the development of Artificial Intelligence as well as initiatives related to the Internet of Things, networks and connectivity, data analytics and cybersecurity.

This Centre, which has the support of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, will promote local talent and attract professionals as well as technology start-ups through collaborations with various institutions in the Basque Country.

The new innovation centre has a surface area of 2,600 m2 and is integrated into the Euskaltel facilities on the Zamudio/Derio Campus of the Euskadi Technology Park.

Euskaltel has more than 115 engineers in the Basque Country and plans to incorporate 40 technical profiles directly over the next three years and indirectly as a project driver for the network of partners that will be installed at the Centre.

Euskaltel covers 85% of the population with 5G and connects 97% of Basque homes with the most modern fibre in Spain, making it the technological leader in the territory.

MASMOVIL Group is making an investment of 350M€ over three years to provide the Basque Country with the most modern FTTH and 5G infrastructures.

The MASMOVIL Group has announced that it has chosen the Zamudio/Derio Campus of the Euskadi Technology Park to locate its new R&D Centre, where it will promote its activity around innovation for the development and launch of cutting-edge products and services using new technologies that will continue to contribute to ensuring that the Group’s customers continue to be the most satisfied in the market.

Through this Innovation Centre and the development of new lines of business focused on R&D, the MASMOVIL Group reaffirms its commitment to the Basque Country and consolidates its presence in the region, thus contributing to the strengthening and competitiveness of the productive and business fabric of the area.

The new innovation centre, which will be located in Euskaltel’s facilities, will have around 2,600 square metres to carry out its activity and will promote the application of new developments in Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, networks and connectivity, Data Analytics and IoT in the field of telecommunications.

In addition, this Centre will serve to attract and retain local talent for young people who want to develop their careers in the field of telco and new technologies thanks to the various agreements that the Basque operator has with different educational and research institutions in the Basque Country.

The new R&D Centre has the support of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, which is firmly committed to promoting innovation, the relevant existing ecosystem in education and research and technology development, the clarity and transparency for entrepreneurial activity and attracting talent and, finally, the experience of more than 25 years of relationship with Euskaltel, with the generation of a unique ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Jon Ander de las Fuentes, Director of Euskaltel and the MASMOVIL Group in the Basque Country, will coordinate this new innovation centre project, to which he hopes to attract other companies in the Basque Country that are committed to an innovation model that will bring greater dynamism to the Basque economy and thus create an innovation network of Basque partners and future start-ups in the IT field.

The companies that choose to form part of this project will have their own space in the Centre, which will allow them to enjoy greater agility in their developments, access to test benches in real environments and greater speed in the “time to market” for the development of their products and services and their innovations.

This new commitment by the MASMOVIL Group to the Basque Country is in addition to the 350 million euros that the Group is allocating to the modernisation of telecommunications infrastructures in the territory, fibre and 5G, of which it has already invested nearly 150 million euros in the Basque Country and Navarre since the summer of 2021.

At present, the MASMOVIL Group has an extensive presence in the Basque Country, with a total of more than 1.3 million lines, of which 900,000 are mobile and more than 400,000 are fixed broadband. In addition, Euskaltel covers 85% of the Basque population with 5G services and has 97% of Basque households connected to the most modern fibre optic network on the market, making it the technological leader in the Basque Country. These figures indicate the good results of the operator, as well as the recovery of growth and the pulse of the business.

“We are proud to once again commit to developing innovation in the Basque Country for the entire Group with this new R&D centre. One of Euskaltel’s great strengths has been knowing how to adapt to the needs of customers in the Basque Country and also becoming great allies of the companies in our environment, helping them to competitively face all the disruptive trends. Today we are taking another step forward that reinforces our commitment to the Basque Country and consolidates us as an innovative territory at the forefront of the technological revolution we are experiencing”, said Jon Ander de las Fuentes.

A new pole of innovation and attraction of talent

The creation of Euskaltel’s new R&D centre in Bizkaia will generate new job opportunities in technology for professionals in the Basque Country thanks to different collaborations with Basque institutions.

Many of the professionals who will make up the team at the new innovation centre, which will be incorporated progressively over the next three years, will come from the different agreements that the Group has with Basque universities, such as the University of Deusto, UPV/EHU and Mondragón Unibertsitatea, with which Euskaltel, the leading Basque operator, has agreements through chairs, technology classrooms and different master’s degrees and postgraduate courses.

Euskaltel has more than 115 engineers in the territory, a number that will be increased by around 40 more professionals through progressive incorporations from these collaborations over the next three years.

Different research areas on which Euskaltel will focus the centre’s activity

The new centre will promote initiatives focused both on the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the world of telecommunications and in other cutting-edge technological areas, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), networks and connectivity, data analytics and cybersecurity.

Expected activity in Spain in the areas of AI, IoT and 5G will account for around 2% of total GDP, with 5G being the business area with the highest expected growth in this decade.

It will also continue with the development of proprietary software tools that the MASMOVIL/Euskaltel Group has implemented in its systems and which have resulted in an innovative, differential and highly successful management model.

In the field of the Internet of Things, IoT, the new facilities will focus on the exploration and development of solutions based on the connectivity of smart devices. This will involve research on how to integrate sensors, actuators and IoT devices in various sectors, especially in smart homes, smart cities, industry, healthcare and agriculture to create new business opportunities.

In networks and connectivity, the centre will focus on research and development of next-generation network technologies, such as current 5G and future 6G networks. In addition, in artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, it will investigate the use of both to improve services and operations, e.g. predict and anticipate network problems, optimise resource management and offer personalised services.

In the area of cybersecurity, the centre will focus on research and development of advanced security solutions to protect fixed and mobile networks, infrastructures, systems and data. To this end, real-time threat detection, anomalous behaviour analysis, secure authentication and identity management, among others, will be explored.

Complementary activities

The new Euskaltel facilities will also host initiatives related to cloud computing and digital services. Thus, the activity will explore the adoption of hybrid cloud architectures, storage and processing services in the cloud, as well as software solutions to improve the flexibility and scalability of services.

In automation and robotics, the use of robots for internal process automation tasks and optimisation of operational efficiency will be explored.

The blockchain can also be applied to the field of telecommunications. In this regard, use cases such as digital identity management, secure authentication, transaction logging and the provision of reliable and transparent services will be studied.

Finally, in terms of virtual and augmented reality, research will be carried out on how to use these technologies to improve training, remote technical assistance, customer experience and offer interactive services.