Mobile marketers are facing advertising chaos during the London Olympics after claims that data traffic will be like “England playing in the World Cup final on Christmas Day, every day, for 17 days”.
A group representing all mobile network operators in the UK admits that, despite huge investment, customers will experience major delays for data.
Three, O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere have joined forces to erect new masts around the Olympic sites to cope with the increased strain from the estimated half a million people each day expected to attend the month-long event. However, the delays will stretch far beyond the Olympic site in Stratford.
O2, which has already pumped more than £50m into the event, estimates 80 million mobile phone users will try to access services in 100 UK locations during the Games. Upgrades have also been accelerated in areas such as London’s Hyde Park, where a large influx of people is expected.
Meanwhile Vodafone, which has invested more than £1m a day on improving its network, said it expects data traffic during the Games to be like “England playing in the World Cup final on Christmas Day, every day, for 17 days”.
BT will also provide more than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around Olympic venues under a special version of its Openzone brand to help with demand.
But Stuart Newstead, a spokesman for the Mobile Experience Group, a team put together to provide a voice for all UK operators as well as BT and Ofcom, said: “We can’t say exactly how big demand’s going to be, but to give you an idea, at the last World Cup in South Africa when England scored a goal there was a 30% spike in demand.
“More people have smartphones now and that was one goal on the other side of the world. This will be much bigger.”
Last month Royal Mail admitted that customers should expect major delays to post during the event.
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