People living in Spain will soon get access to high-speed voice and data services and the internet following work by Marconi engineers based in Coventry.

The base at New Century Way has delivered a complete multipoint wireless network to Spain's second biggest telecoms operator, Retevision.

The project, including a 26 GHz network, is the biggest of its kind.

Marconi Services handled every aspect of the build. This included network planning, frequency studies and site identification and acquisition, construction and installation of base station towers and building-mounted systems.

Despite its complexity, the network was delivered in record time, with fully-fledged operation scheduled to come online just 12 months after the contract was awarded.

Coventry-based Peter Brown, President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australasia, Marconi Communications said:

"As the world's largest-ever broadband wireless access project, the logistical complexity of the roll-out, enormous, because of the diverse and varied  factors associated with this project.

“The fact, that we were able to get a network of this size and scale installed and operational so quickly is testament to the organizational skill of our new, multi-lingual Services group,"

The new network will form a key element of Retevision's strategy to position itself as Spain's leading telecoms operator.

It comprises 350,000 wireless lines, more than 12,000 network terminals, and hundreds more base stations located on buildings and free-standing towers.