EE showcases Europe’s fastest live mobile speeds as Wembley Stadium gets ready for 4G+
- Wembley Stadium connected by EE showcases Europe’s fastest 4G with 400Mbps trials
- New network technology powers stunning audio-visual experience of a Wembley Stadium gig and achieves record breaking mobile speeds
- 4G+ set to be switched on at Wembley Stadium in March 2015, doubling mobile data capacity for fans, as part of EE’s technical program to make Wembley the world’s most connected stadium
27th February, 2015 – EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, this week kicked off new 4G network trials capable of delivering mobile speeds over 400Mbps at Wembley Stadium.
Working closely with Qualcomm and Huawei, and ahead of Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress event, EE’s live demonstration at Wembley showcases the future of EE’s mobile network, using more spectrum to provide more speed and more capacity – essential to giving a great mobile experience for large crowds. As a UK first, the demo utilised a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 810 processor with X10 LTE that combines three different EE spectrum bands to achieve 400Mbps speeds to a single device.
To illustrate the future capabilities of the EE mobile network, EE has created a bespoke audio-visual installation at the stadium, featuring multiple 4K and HD screens and high quality audio streaming to create an interactive Wembley gig experience [link to video]. The demonstration highlights why speed and capacity are so important to a great mobile experience, for consumers and businesses alike.
Fotis Karonis, CTO at EE, said: “We have established ourselves as the most advanced and innovative network in Europe, and we will continue to stay ahead of the curve, in terms of both speed and capacity. Smarter devices with more data intensive video and audio demands are launching all the time, and it’s trials like these at Wembley Stadium that allow us to ensure EE customers continue to get the very best experiences from their mobile network now and in the future. This is a showcase of what a truly amazing 4G network can do, and is a big step in our ambition to make Wembley Stadium the most connected stadium in the world.”
4G+ launching in Wembley Stadium
From late March, EE will switch on 4G+ at Wembley Stadium. Like the 400Mbps trials, 4G+ uses ‘carrier aggregation’ network technology, however just two bands of EE’s spectrum are combined (20MHz in each of the 1800MHz and 2.6GHz bands) to achieve real world peak speeds of up to 150Mbps.
This means fans in their seats will be able to benefit from double the amount of mobile data capacity as well as the UK’s highest mobile speeds, letting them stream goal replays, check sports apps, upload selfies and share the action on social media.
4G+ was launched in central London in October 2014, delivering the UK’s fastest mobile speeds. As EE continues to demonstrate how capacity is setting its network apart from other operators across Europe, the 4G+rollout in Wembley Stadium will allow more fans to connect, share and stream simultaneously.
The Wembley 4G+ rollout, starting with covering the seated stadium ‘bowl’, follows EE’s commitment to invest £1.5bn in its network over the next three years, with a particular focus on rural parts of the UK. In order to support the inevitable growth of more sophisticated mobile devices, wearable technology and 4K streaming, EE’s double speed 4G will reach 90% of the population by 2017, with high capacity 4G+ enabled in 20 of the busiest UK cities by 2017.
- ENDS -
Notes:
1. The 400Mbps speeds are achieved by combining three LTE carriers – 20MHz of 1800MHz spectrum, 20MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum, and a further 15GHz of 2.6GHz spectrum
2. The EE 4G+ service, with real world speeds of 150Mbps to a smartphone and a theoretical maximum of 300Mbps, combines 20MHz of 1800MHz spectrum with 20MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum
3. The ‘CAT 9’ Snapdragon 810 processor with X10 LTE enables the 400Mbps speeds
4. ‘CAT 6’ modems are required to achieve the peak speeds on the EE 4G+ network
5. The innovative Wembley Stadium live experience was created by EE working closely with award winning digital artists and engineers from DARE and Jason Bruges Studio
For more information, please contact the EE press team on:
0845 373 7070
About EE
EE is the largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers, businesses, government and the wholesale market. EE has approximately 13,000 full time employees and 580 retail stores, and serves more than 30 million customers across its mobile, fixed and wholesale businesses.
EE runs the UK's biggest, fastest and most reliable mobile network, pioneering the UK's first superfast 4G mobile service in October 2012. EE's 4G coverage today reaches more than 85% of the UK population. EE’s 2G coverage reaches 99% of the population while 3G reaches 98%. EE's superfast fibre broadband service covers 54% of the UK population, and ADSL broadband service covers 98.7% of the population.
In the last few years, EE has received extensive independent recognition including being ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®, Best network at the 2014 Mobile News Awards, Fastest Network at the 2013 uSwitch Awards, Best Network at the 2014 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards and What Mobile Awards 2013, Network Innovation at the 2013 Recombu awards and Best Network for Business at the 2013 Mobile Industry awards.
Follow us on…
- Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ee
- Twitter at: www.twitter.com/ee
- YouTube at: www.youtube.com/ee
Rankings based on RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report for mobile performance as tested on best available plans and devices on 4 mobile networks across all available network types (Jul-Dec 2014). The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE. Your results may vary. See rootmetrics.co.uk for more details.
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.