Ericsson and Russian telecommunications operator MTS release preliminary results of their ultra-fast broadband deployment at several stadiums and locations at the World Cup in Russia.
Measurements made during the tournament show that Europe’s largest roll out of Massive MIMO enabled up to five-fold increases in data throughput in uplink, allowing fans to broadcast high quality video from smartphones during matches. In addition, data downloading speed and spectrum efficiency doubled, and network capacity went up more than four-fold.
This year’s tournament registered a 30 percent increase in traffic from social platforms as fans posted more content on social networks than in the 2014 games. In another shift in fan behavior, video streaming has dominated and led to traffic soaring by 2.5 times (compared to an average day on the MTS network). In contrast, the 2014 competition was a ‘selfie’ event with smartphone users sharing selfies and 60 percent of spectators downloading photos.
Prior to the competition, MTS deployed Massive MIMO with Ericsson Radio System AIR 6468. The technology was introduced in the LTE-TDD 2600 MHz band (B38) at more than 40 sites in seven out of the 11 tournament cities, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Niznny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara. This increased network capacity around the stadiums, at railway stations, at airports, in fan zones, and recreation areas.
In addition, MTS built a telecommunications infrastructure in Luzhniki in Moscow and Rostov Arena in Rostov-on-Don, and gave other telecom operators access. MTS also carried out large-scale works aimed to build and expand the capacity of the network at all other stadiums where matches were held.
Andrei Ushatsky, Vice President, Technology and IT, MTS, says: “The extensive preparation of our network and the introduction of Ericsson’s 5G solutions for the football tournament have clearly paid off, allowing MTS to successfully handle the overload and provide high-quality communication services to tens of thousands of our subscribers.
“High-speed mobile internet makes football fans more engaged as they can instantly share the most spectacular and exciting moments with others. Indeed, we found that during some matches uplink exceeded downlink, clearly showing that our customers preferred uploading photos and videos on social networks, streaming games and sharing content in messengers than watching video or surfing the Internet.”
Ericsson predicts that data traffic in the 2022 competition will be driven by VR and AR technologies.
Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President, Head of Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, added: “5G will provide operators with opportunities to create new services, enabling subscribers to not just watch games, but also see them through the participants’ eyes.
“By 2020, games will bring fans even more vivid emotions because of 5G development, which will provide ultra-high data speed rates and low latency, and a spread of wearables, virtual reality and tactile feedback.
“We believe that by 2020, 5G networks and wearables evolution will bring customised services. Fans will be able to track favorite athletes in real-time via wearables on data such as; physical conditions, statistics of their success and failures from game to game, and even watch a match though the players’ eyes.”
MTS and Ericsson have conducted tests of 5G technologies as part of their strategic partnership, and within the framework of the agreement signed in December 2015 on cooperation in the development and implementation of 5G in Russia.
Image: PA Images
