14 June 2018

The network installation follows the expansion of Anfield Stadium which is part of a wider regeneration initiative to improve the local area.

Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG) has designed and deployed a 4G mobile network across Anfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool Football Club (LFC). 

WIG worked with O2 and Vodafone on the first phase of the implementation, and while the service is available to their subscribers initially, there are plans to roll it out to other networks at a later date.

Andrew Robinson, LFC’s head of technology and transformation, says: “Providing consistent mobile coverage at scale to 54,000 fans is very challenging and slow mobile data speeds can be frustrating for fans. Using expertise from WIG we’re tackling this challenge with high quality 4G services throughout the stadium to provide a much better match day experience.”

WIG says stadium installations are typically challenging and Anfield was no exception.

Its engineering team adopted a flexible approach to working schedules, often installing in the evenings and weekends to ensure the deployment was completed with no impact on the club’s fixtures list.

The company installed a new, standalone 5G-ready distributed antenna (DAS) network with support from its equipment partner, Commscope.

According to WIG, the the total build cycle was five months and completed ahead of schedule thanks to the supportive and collaborative relationship developed with LFC.

The new DAS network provides dedicated mobile coverage and capacity to device users across the stadium, and is separate from LFC’s IT network which continues to operate independently.

WIG adds that it provides full lifecycle management for all of the DAS network infrastructure its deploys across the UK.

This includes round the clock performance monitoring and a full suite of reactive and proactive maintenance and repair provisions.