Feature

Ricoh Arena installs high-speed Wi-Fi to improve fan experience

Ricoh Arena, home to English Premiership rugby union team Wasps, has updated its Wi-Fi service to improve the fan experience at the venue.

By linking up with CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative fibre network provider, Ricoh Arena, which is also home of League Two football club Coventry City, can provide tens of thousands of fans 10 gigabit per second internet connection.

The events venue recently announced a ten-year partnership with technology company Ericsson, which laid the infrastructure for the ultra-fast connection via its Smart Cell as a Service technology. This enables thousands of people to receive content at the same time by breaking down mobile data.

Nick Eastwood, chief executive at the Ricoh Arena and Wasps, said: “This is much more than simply enabling sports fans to check scores or business people reading emails on their phones – it’s about revolutionising the way people experience live events with their smartphones and tablets when visiting the Ricoh Arena.

“The huge bandwidth connection provided by CityFibre, combined with the widespread Wi-Fi infrastructure laid out by Ericsson is laying the foundations to enable us to do that, with the Ricoh Arena being one of the only events venues in the UK with this powerful level of capacity and speed.

“Now that we have the digital capability in place to enhance thousands of visitors’ experiences all at once, ourselves and Ericsson are looking at innovative ways to use the powerful network at our disposal.

“This includes digital services that will benefit our visitors directly, as well as data that we can collect to help improve customers’ experiences from an operational perspective for future events – whether that’s a sporting event, music concert, conference or exhibition. This is very much one of the first pieces in our digital jigsaw, and we look forward to making further announcements in the future.”

Rob Hamlin, commercial director at CityFibre, added: “The Ricoh Arena now has access to ten times the capacity and speed of the best connected businesses in the region, enabling them to unlock their digital potential.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to see what happens when we inject the power of full fibre connectivity into a venue brimming with ideas and ambition of what they could do in the digital space.

“We look forward to working with both the Ricoh Arena and Ericsson in the future to help them position the Ricoh Arena as a leading digital venue.”

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