- Huge weekend for British sport will see England in the quarterfinals of Euro 2024, Formula One® at Silverstone, Women’s T20 cricket, international rugby, and tennis action on the grass courts of SW19.
- 5pm – 7pm on Saturday predicted to be the peak time for fans of split-screen sports action, with cricket, rugby, tennis and football matches taking place simultaneously.
- Silverstone expected to take pole position for mobile data, with new EE analysis showing a 50% leap in data usage at the racetrack last year.
- F1 fans used 88 Terabytes (TB) of mobile data during the four-day race weekend in 2023, nearly four times as much as consumed over the Wimbledon fortnight.
- EE has built more permanent 5G mobile sites at Silverstone ahead of the 2024 British Grand Prix, which is expected to break data records again.
The 2024 Formula One® British Grand Prix at Silverstone is expected to be top of the podium for mobile data use this weekend, as part of a huge sporting spectacle in the UK.
While Wembley Stadium continues to see huge mobile data usage for single-day events, as witnessed by this year’s FA Cup and UEFA Champions League Finals, which drove 4.23 TB and 5.29 TB in data usage respectively, there is far higher – and extended – use of video streaming at the Northamptonshire racetrack, as more fans follow the action with the help of their smartphones.
Examining its network performance across major UK sporting events, EE found some of the fastest growth in data usage is happening at Silverstone. Fans attending the four-day race weekend in 2023 collectively used more than 88 TB of mobile data, with 4G data volumes reaching nearly 70,000 gigabytes and 5G data nearly 18,000 – resulting in 20% and 100% increases from 2022. That’s equivalent to watching Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ in HD 23,000 times in a row (or continuously for two and a half years).
EE puts Silverstone in pole position
As part of its ongoing commitment to connect the UK’s most important venues with permanent and reliable network connectivity, EE has now built four permanent sites at Silverstone to improve 4G and 5G mobile coverage at the track all year-round. This not only supports performance on race weekends and during major events, but also helps the motor industries that are based in and around the area.
With the Formula One® British Grand Prix attracting more than 480,000 people annually during race weekend, many of whom want to livestream the race on their phones and stay connected to friends and family while camping, these improvements are crucial in delivering the best fan experiences. In contrast, sports fans at Wembley or Wimbledon tend to drive higher usage of social media platforms, which use less data.
Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT Group said: ” Forget Verstappen, one of the fastest things at Silverstone this year will be our mobile network. Growing data usage demands a growing network and we’re proud to be investing ahead of the curve for EE customers. Attending the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is an absolute must for all motorsport fans, and now – thanks to the enhanced network performance – they can stay connected to all the drama, adrenaline, and passion the race is famous for.”
Sports fans spoiled for choice this weekend
With international football, tennis, rugby, cricket and motor-racing happening this weekend, sports fans will be spoiled for choice. EE predicts some of the biggest data usage will be between 5pm and 7pm on Saturday, with England kicking off against Switzerland, multiple grass court tennis matches, England Women’s cricket team taking on New Zealand, and Ireland taking on world champions South Africa in rugby union, all likely to be playing simultaneously.
While fans will be making tough decisions on what sports to watch, EE continues to invest in improved coverage at the UK’s major sporting locations. Silverstone is the latest UK event venue to receive significant network improvements, with EE supporting a range of major events across the UK each year.
EE is part of an enhanced small cell deployment in the SW19 postcode which, together with its permanent and temporary mast sites, supports visitors to the Wimbledon area. In addition, several permanent EE mobile systems have also been installed in the last year, including at major stadiums like Villa Park and Vicarage Road, as well as along the Royal Mile to support the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These new upgrades include enhanced 5G performance to provide faster speeds and increased network capacity so fans can reliably stay connected to all the drama this summer.
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Source: EE Newsroom
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