Link Securities | The European leader in telecommunications towers – which has more than 110,000 mobile antenna sites across 10 European countries – is negotiating partnerships with defence companies to use its sites as part of an anti-drone surveillance alert network, according to its CEO, Marco Patuano, at a media briefing ahead of the group’s annual general meeting.
The executive explained that the profile of a potential drone attack has changed, as drones are now much smaller devices with a different ability to penetrate defences compared to an aeroplane, which can be intercepted more easily.
The radio sites of companies such as Cellnex are mostly towers located in open areas — 60% are urban, suburban and rural towers and 40% are urban rooftop sites — they have perimeter security, with electrical access, usually with a high-speed data connection via fibre or microwave links, and are scattered throughout the country, precisely to ensure widespread radio coverage for mobile phone users, making them highly suitable for installing a network of sensors to monitor for this type of attack.
