Telecommunications company O2 has claimed it has delivered the highest capacity DAS stadium deployment in the UK through the instalment of a dedicated 5G network at Allianz Stadium.
The major mobile connectivity upgrade debuted for England’s first home game of the 2025 Six Nations on Saturday. England’s dramatic 26-25 win over France was said to have resulted in 40% more data being carried than the previous Autumn International fixture that took place at the stadium formerly known as Twickenham.
O2’s investment introduced a new bespoke 5G distributed antenna system (DAS) network, which is dedicated solely to providing reliable 5G coverage to supporters inside the stadium. With its 34 dedicated 5G coverage zones serving the stadium bowl, O2 believes this sets a new record for DAS stadium deployment in the UK.
O2 is the main sponsor of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). In October 2020, it was revealed that Twickenham would benefit from increased connectivity after the RFU signed an extended five-year deal with O2 which took effect in September 2021.
O2’s announcement comes after the news yesterday (Tuesday) that the final round match of this year’s Rugby Championship between Argentina and South Africa will take place at Allianz Stadium.
The October 4 fixture will be only the second Rugby Championship match ever to be played outside of the competition’s four core territories of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Allianz Stadium also hosted Argentina in the 2016 tournament for a fixture against Australia.
Jonathan Conn, RFU digital technology director, said: “Providing the very best matchday experience at Allianz Stadium is a top priority for us and that includes our fans’ ability to stay connected.
“In an increasingly digital world, the O2 upgrade will significantly enhance connectivity for fans who want to be able to share images, view content and keep in touch with friends and family throughout the day.”
Dr Robert Joyce, director of mobile access engineering at O2, added: “With more than 80,000 fans attending Allianz Stadium on matchdays, games like the Six Nations create a huge demand for data and place increased strain on mobile networks inside and outside of the stadium.
“Our new dedicated stadium network is designed to deal with this by providing a huge capacity boost to O2 customers inside the stadium and minimising matchday disruption to our customers in the surrounding areas.
“We believe this upgrade marks the largest deployment of 5G at any stadium in the UK offering O2 customers at this year’s Six Nations Championship a new level of connectivity and making their matchday experience more immersive and interactive than ever before.”
Earlier this week, it was announced that Wembley Stadium has become the UK’s first sports venue to have its own 5G standalone mobile network.
The technology was installed by sponsor EE and will be available for the first time during England women’s UEFA Nations League against Spain on February 26. The 5G network is designed to support the evolution of the live event experience for fans in the 90,000-capacity stadium.
