Large-scale events are almost synonymous with poor phone signals. Events that bring masses of people together understandably put a strain on mobile phone signals. This prevents attendees from uploading content to social media, message/call friends and make transactions.

Too many people scrabbling for their fair share of 4G can make the signal crash and become completely unusable for the majority of the crowd.

The good news

Many in the events industry have been eagerly awaiting the introduction of 5G. With EE rolling out 5G last week (30th May), the mobile network provider will trial the technology at a large-scale event at Glastonbury Festival from 26th-30th June.

The first cities to receive 5G coverage from EE are London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and Edinburgh and EE announced it is aiming to achieve full distribution by 2022. 5G users will need a compatible handset to take advantage of the latest generation of internet signal.

Pete Jeavons, marketing and communications director at BT and EE, said: “Smartphones have become a festival must-have as we’ve seen each year with more and more data being consumed at Glastonbury Festival.

“As a long-standing technology partner to this iconic event, we are committed to building a network powerful enough to cope with this huge demand.”

Vodafone has also unveiled plans to provide 5G to select cities in the coming weeks.

5G will offer faster internet speeds, quicker downloads and further spectrum, allowing more people to be online simultaneously.

The Evening Standard reported that 5G could facilitate all mobile internet browsing needs including watching TV shows, uninterrupted scrolling through social media and, most importantly, being able to get online when in a large crowd.

A good day for sports

Software specialist firm, Amdocs, commissioned a study into 5G that revealed that, for most of us, our first experience of 5G will be at a major sporting event with the 2020 Olympics and European Championship influencing 5G roll-out timelines.

5G will also offer new features including 360-degree videos and real-time VR experiences. FC Barcelona, set to be the first stadium in the world to introduce a dedicated 5G network, has focussed on enabling these new experiences for spectators.

In safe hands

Experts have quashed concerns that 5G may be unsafe. The BBC has said that regulators are happy that there is no evidence of danger and that similar concerns were expressed when earlier mobile internet and Wi-Fi were introduced.

The EU said exposure from 5G is far below limits set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com