EM 2008: Swisscom invests millions in infrastructure
155 kilometers of new cable and 21 temporary cell towers—that’s what Swisscom is installing in Switzerland to ensure that the cell network and television broadcasts don’t crash during the 2008 European Soccer Championship. Cost: About 7 million francs.
Swisscom is massively upgrading its telecommunications infrastructure for the 2008 European Football Championship so that the ball can roll on the screen and the media can report on the matches. An additional 100 kilometers of data cable, 40 kilometers of telephone cable and 15 kilometers of fiber optic cable are to be laid. This is primarily necessary because of the expected peaks in the mobile network, for example when everyone wants to make a phone call to each other because of a goal, and because of the enormous increase in bandwidth requirements due to HDTV.The temporary upgrade will cost the European Championship sponsor around CHF 7 million, although exact figures were not given at the media orientation on Tuesday, according to SDA. 13 independent telecommunications networks will be set up to supply the four European Championship stadiums and 21 other locations such as Uefa headquarters, fan zones, hotels, airports and railroad stations. By comparison, this is three to six times the requirements of a major international corporation. "We are setting up small telecom companies in the stadiums," said Swisscom man Urs Schaeppi.
