UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2018. MegaFon set up the Urals’ largest mobile base station in Yekaterinburg Arena: the station’s capacity is comparable to that of nine regular units, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports.

As many as 13,000 people can enjoy reliable Internet connection at once; this is more than a third of a fully booked stadium’s audience.

MegaFon’s stadium-based equipment weighs more than 3,500 kg all in all (the weight, roughly, of four football teams). The appliances are placed strategically across the arena’s entire perimeter as well as under spectator stands to ensure quality connection in every sector and every seat.

‘The quality of Internet connection is an important factor in the spectator’s game experience, and it will become crucial in the upcoming international games. So our job is to surprise both locals and visitors with extra-high speed. Arena Base Station supports our LTE Advanced standard, which means mobile connection speed can reach up to 300 Mb/sec. The station has already coped with a tenfold workload and kept up a decent data transfer speed,’ says MegaFon Ural’s Network Operation Director Vladimir Glukhov.

MegaFon’s engineers tested their mobile network performance in real-life conditions during the Amkar-Ural tryout game: over 20,000 people were there to support their teams, yet mobile Internet connection was going strong at 260 Mb/sec.