Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has not yet deployed its Small Cell as a Service in the U.S., but it's talking about some of the new apps that football fans are getting starting this month at the Legia Warszawa stadium in Poland.
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Legia Warszawa stadium. |
Thanks to Ericsson's Small Cell as a Service offering, football fans attending Legia Warszawa home matches will be able to buy food and drinks using a mobile app and have it delivered to their seats. Fans will be able to scan a QR code on their seats so that the food and drinks are delivered to the right place. That way, they avoid standing in concession lines where they'll miss the action on the field.
The installation stems from a deal announced in February 2015 whereby Ericsson said it would install and operate a carrier-grade Wi-Fi network in Legia Warszawa's home stadium. The network provides a high-speed Internet connection throughout the stadium, including the club offices, Legia FanStore and stadium restaurants.
While Ericsson hasn't introduced the Small Cell as a Service to U.S. audiences, it has deployed Wi-Fi in stadiums in the U.S. Launched in 2012, Ericsson's stadium-optimized Wi-Fi solution consists of the AP 5114 stadium-optimized Wi-Fi access point and the WIC 8000 Wi-Fi controller. Together, they create a Wi-Fi network that can be integrated with the mobile network.
The network installed in Legia Warszawa's stadium is already supporting data throughput in excess of 1 terabyte. About 7,500 devices connect to the network at any one time during home matches, uploading and downloading an average of 180 MB, at a peak average throughput of 60 Mbps. The stadium has a capacity of 31,000 people.
"By providing the Connected Stadium and Wi-Fi connectivity in an as-a-Service model, including all services such as designing, planning, building and managing the small cell access network, Ericsson jointly with Legia Warszawa enables cost-efficient innovative services to be launched quickly, allowing Legia to focus on promoting new offerings to football fans like in-seat deliveries," said Jean-Claude Geha, head of Managed Services at Ericsson. "Since the launch a year ago, Legia continues to provide new features and functionalities which has enhanced end user experience and increased usage of the service."
In-seat deliveries of food and drinks were trialed successfully in sections of the Legia Warszawa stadium on Feb. 28 during the match between Legia Warszawa and Ruch Chorzów. Ericsson says that with Legia Warszawa, it will continue to introduce "exciting new services for fans." Up next: in-seat deliveries of FanStore products and video replays.
For more:
- see this Ericsson blog
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