Tell us a little about yourself. What does your job at Telefónica involve?
I work as a Radio Access Network optimisation engineer at Telefónica. My job involves designing strategies for functionalities, new services and new technologies, analysing them and adjusting them to improve the performance of Telefónica’s mobile network. This ensures high quality service through the efficient use of the resources available on our network.
What innovations is the development of 5G bringing?
The implementation of 5G brings many advantages over 4G. The most ambitious is ultra-low latency. Once these values are achieved, the technology can be used in areas that go beyond basic communications between users and the network, such as industrial or medical applications.
The best-known innovations are the high speeds that will greatly improve the user experience. One of the ones I like best is called Massive MIMO, which is a set of numerous antennas that allow signal beams to be directed to specific users. Previously, this type of dynamic user tracking did not exist.
Thanks to the development of this technology, it is possible to use the spectrum more efficiently and intelligently by transmitting multiple data streams to different users at the same time and frequency.
What are the most obvious examples for users?
Some practical examples related to the user experience are better definition streaming, low latency in network games and the practicality it offers in areas where fibre has not yet reached.
What does this technology mean in terms of energy savings?
With 5G, there are two sides to the coin: high consumption due to technical requirements and the challenge of saving and consuming energy efficiently. Multi-technology base stations account for 51% of the different types of buildings at Telefónica (fixed exchanges, data centres, etc.), but with the incorporation of 5G, new equipment allows base stations to be put into a state called ‘sleep mode’.
One of the current challenges I face in my work is to achieve the maximum possible savings without compromising the quality of service for users.
Changing the subject, how important is it to have female role models in STEM?
Having women as role models in science and technology is key to breaking down gender stereotypes that implicitly convey the message that women are not capable of participating in this field.
We need to break with this legacy and inspire younger women. Women have fought and continue to fight to occupy the space that belongs to us, challenging patriarchal structures.
This needs to be made visible in society so that all those who come after us know that all fields of knowledge belong to them and that they can develop part of their life project, whether social, professional or intellectual, in these fields.
Why do you think there are so few women in scientific and technological careers and professions?
Inequality in science and technology is just another reflection of the structural inequality that exists in our society. The sex-gender system defines a series of roles that are assigned at birth, although in some parts of the West we have made progress in rights and freedoms thanks to the feminist struggle, some of which are only ‘reflected on paper’ and greater social and political involvement is needed to guarantee them. There is still a lot to be done to make this equality real and effective.
We need to tear down all the pillars that support the patriarchal system so that all imposed stereotypes disappear and we can conquer all the spaces that belong to us as more than half of humanity.
Which Telefónica employees would you nominate for this interview because you consider them excellent at their job?
I would nominate María Ángeles Núñez Sobrino, a radio optimiser who can offer us a closer perspective on service quality in the field, and María José Angulo Hernández, an analyst who can offer us a more realistic perspective on service guarantee in our network.
