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ICF Factor 01 / 06 · Connect

A city that connects

Before a city can be intelligent, it must be strong on the inside. CONNECT brings together the foundations: a city-owned telecommunications network, the platform that turns the city into a system capable of observing itself, and an administration that no longer makes people queue.

1.250

Smart cameras on the municipal network

91 km

New fibre dedicated exclusively to mobility

295.829

Applications submitted through the e-Government portal in 2025

+3.000

Public employees working paper-free

100 %

Of the population reached by the network

What Connect means

Connectivity is not coverage: it is sovereignty

For the Intelligent Community Forum, connectivity is the basic condition that enables a community to innovate, compete and create better opportunities. Murcia took the most demanding interpretation possible: ending its dependence on private networks for something as sensitive as communications between the city's essential services.

For years, that dependence meant higher costs, less room for manoeuvre and greater risks to security and data sovereignty. The decision was to build a city-owned network designed not only for today's needs, but to grow with the city.

Infraestructura

Municipal fibre network, two data centres and redundant rings.

Interoperabilidad

European FIWARE standard and UNE 178104; migration to NGSI-LD in 2026.

Digital administration

e-Government portal, Citizen Portal and 100% online public procurement.

Cross-cutting layer

Artificial intelligence cuts across this Factor in mobility, citizen services and case-file analysis. It is not a separate Factor.

01 — The invisible foundations

Telecommunications and unified communications ecosystem

Murcia has not built a single network, but an ecosystem of complementary networks organised as a “network of networks”. It is one of Spain's most robust municipal telecommunications architectures and the quiet foundation on which everything else rests.

Network 01

Municipal corporate network

It connects the central offices and supports the daily work of more than 3,000 public employees.

Network 02

MiMurcia

A purpose-built infrastructure for sensors and devices that does not overload administrative services.

Network 03

Traffic

A layer dedicated exclusively to the secure transport of critical mobility and video-surveillance data.

Alta disponibilidad

2 CPD · doble anillo

If a section goes down, information continues to flow along the alternative route without interrupting service.

Four phases, ten years

Fase 1 · 2016-2018

Fase 1 · 2016-2018

Fibre backbone and city-owned network

The City Council owns the physical network and interconnects the two data centres with headquarters, Local Police, Civil Protection and the Fire Service. Spare fibre is left in the ducts so the network can grow without reopening the street.

Fase 2 · 2021-2023

Convergence and very high speed

Links of up to 10 Gbps at the main nodes, logical separation of critical and administrative traffic, and unified VoIP telephony.

Fase 3 · 2023-2024

Connectivity reaches the street

A distribution network using armoured fibre feeds street cabinets and noise and air-quality sensors. The IoT layer is completely isolated from the corporate network.

Fase 4 · 2024-2026

Cybersecurity and social connectivity

Micro-segmentation between buildings and internal-traffic firewalls in line with Spain's National Security Framework. In parallel, high-speed Wi-Fi is available across the library and study-room network.

Hito · Fase 3b

The traffic technology rollout adds 91,000 metres of 64-fibre cable to connect each traffic-light control centre with its controllers, replacing analogue equipment with computer-vision and adaptive-control nodes. The network stops being merely a data carrier and becomes an active tool for reducing CO₂ emissions.

Resultado

Direct control and sovereignty over data, guaranteed continuity of essential services, capacity sized to absorb IoT growth and, on the social side, quality internet access in educational spaces and 24-hour study rooms.

02 — The city that senses and learns

MiMurcia and CEUS

For years, traffic, police, emergency services, street cleaning and the environment operated as separate compartments. MiMurcia was created to break that siloed logic: a shared centre from which the city can observe what is happening and act in a coordinated way.

CEUS control room, video wall and monitoring stations

Architecture

A FIWARE-based architecture running across two data centres at separate sites, linked by a dual municipal fibre ring. Strict compliance with UNE 178104 ensures that data on water, lighting and transport can be correlated with one another.

Sensor network

1,250 cameras with video analytics, Kunak air-quality stations, more than 50 multi-parameter sound-level meters, soil-moisture monitoring in more than 100 parks, more than 100,000 remotely managed lighting points, and fill-level sensors in waste containers.

Movilidad inteligente

More than €14.1 million in ITS systems —over €44 million including civil works—, with the central SCGIAM system, level 3 and 4 SAE fleet management (€6,131,012), and new payment methods using smart cards, QR codes and account-based ticketing (€202,606).

The two digital twins

Flooding

Developed with EMUASA. It combines rainfall already recorded with forecasts and sewer-network data to identify critical points 3 to 6 hours in advance and calculate the expected water depth on each street.

Read the full story →

Traffic

It can simulate the effect of closing a street or redesigning a route before any physical intervention takes place. By cross-referencing mobility and air-quality data, it identifies environmental pressure points and redistributes traffic to reduce emissions.

Murcia al Instante makes the data processed by CEUS openly available: air quality, traffic flow and the status of public services, accessible to anyone.

TuMurcia feeds directly into the CEUS operations dashboard: issues reported by citizens reach the responsible service already geolocated.

Full CEUS project page →

03 — A close, digital City Council

e-Government portal and digital administration

The goal was not simply to digitise procedures, but to redesign the relationship between the administration and citizens: no queues, no opening-hour restrictions, and the same legal validity as in-person service.

2013

Papel cero

Municipal regulations guarantee the legal validity of electronic administration, anticipating European directives.

2016

e-Government portal

Large-scale rollout of the municipal portal as a 24/7 transactional environment.

2017

Gexflow

The internal case-management engine: traceability, mobile signatures and interoperability with Notific@ and the SARA network.

2018

100% online tendering

A public procurement portal with no physical envelopes, an auditable digital trail and electronic invoicing.

2022

Portal tributario AMT

Payment and direct debit using the information printed on the paper bill, with no digital certificate required.

2026

AI in case processing

AI-assisted regulatory review in Grants and Procurement, running on the City Council's own infrastructure.

295.829

Applications submitted in 2025, 26% more than the previous year.

66 %

Of interactions take place online, compared with 25% in person.

79 %

Of electronic case files are routed automatically to the competent body.

+3.000

Public employees working with digital case files.

“Digitalisation has left no one behind: the tax portal lets residents pay or set up direct debit using the paper bill delivered to their home, without certificates or technical barriers.”

Stakeholders

Who makes this Factor possible

Murcia City Council Local Police Fire Service and Civil Protection EMUASA Red.es SEGITTUR University of Murcia UPCT Urban service concessionaires Municipal Library Network

Funding

Multi-year mixed funding model

MunicipalMulti-year investment funded from the City Council budget.
NationalRed.es, for deployment and interoperability layers.
FEDEREuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
NextGen EUComponent 14 of Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), channelled through SEGITTUR.
PID 20265.143.000 € secured after ranking first among 305 proposals in SEGITTUR's technical assessment.
Public-privateCollaboration with urban service concessionaires.

Documentation and services

Go to source

Projects in this Factor

CEUS — Unified Monitoring Centre→ MiMurcia — plataforma smart cityComing soon e-Government portal and GexflowComing soon

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