Telstra has also increased mobile network capacity throughout Flemington Racecourse, with upgrades providing 80% more capability in the past year. Mike Wright, Executive Director Telstra Networks and Access Technologies, said Telstra looked at new ways to add capacity to popular sporting events such as the Spring Racing Carnival to meet the use of smartphones and data heavy applications at these events.
“The Telstra Next G mobile network has been designed to manage the normal day to day demands in a particular area but when a large event is held we know we need to do more to provide the capacity in our network that our customers are using,” said Wright. “But at peak times customers may still experience slower than expected data.”
During the 2012 Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne Telstra will be conducting a live field trial of Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Metro Cell solution to increase mobile network capacity in the Birdcage enclosure at Derby Day, the Melbourne Cup and Oaks Day.
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“The small cell technology we have deployed in the Birdcage are mini-base stations that complement the two dedicated wide area base stations we have permanently serving Flemington Racecourse,” said Wright. “The small cell solution we are deploying effectively puts a mini mobile base station closer to the customer. This means there is more network capacity available.
“The small cell solution effectively doubles the available wireless network capacity in the Birdcage. Spaced approximately every 10 metres across the venue, We believe this is an Australian first in deploying small cell networks and will be looking to see how this live field trial performs to consider if this is a technology we can integrate into our network for other large sporting events or community festivals,” said Wright.
“We haven’t rolled this out across the entirety of Flemington Racecourse, as with any new technology we want to assess how this new technology integrates into our network and see what difference it makes to keep our customers connected.”
Following this live field trial Telstra will assess whether this is an option we can extend to other sporting and community events.
