Deutsche Telekom outlined the potential of drones to provide temporary coverage for events or as a response to disasters, after a successful deployment at a ski race in the Czech Republic.

Together with subsidiary T-Mobile Czech Republic and specialist Primoco UAV, the operator provided coverage from a drone during the event in the Jizera Mountains on the former’s live commercial mobile network.

Deutsche Telekom positioned the deployment as the first of its type in Europe.

The drone provided continuous coverage from an altitude of 2.3km under what was described as favourable weather conditions. Service lasted four hours across a 6km stretch. Download data rates of 95mb/s and 34mb/s up were achieved.

It noted the Jizerska 50 cross country race was the perfect use case for the flying base station technology as the route went through a protected area with a nature reserve close by.

Deutsche Telekom board member for technology and innovation Claudia Nemat said: “In inaccessible terrain or crisis situations, a flying antenna drone provides resilient connectivity. Wherever it is needed. And very effectively”.

Other potential use cases for drone-based base stations include for events held in hard-to-access areas and as a flexible alternative in crises where traditional connectivity fails.

The Primoco One 150 drone used during the ski race is able to be connected to terrestrial or satellite infrastructure.

Deutsche Telekom plans to demonstrate the drone connectivity system at its MWC25 Barcelona stand during the event in early March.