Ramūnas Mikalauskas, head of the Telia radio network, talks about the measures that need to be taken during such events.
According to him, the capacity of the Telia base stations operating in Vingis Park on a normal day is sufficient, but during concerts, tens of thousands of people gather in one area at the same time, many of whom will use mobile data.
“The mobile network cannot provide the same maximum speed to everyone at the same time. The more people gather in one square meter, the more the network capacity has to be shared, so more challenges arise,” says R. Mikalauskas.
Data usage increases several times
Therefore, before Jessica Shy’s concerts, Telia will supplement the mobile network infrastructure in Vingis Park. Usually, two base stations operate here – one installed near the main stage, the other on the opposite side of Vingis Park on lighting poles. During concerts, an additional mobile base station will be connected to them, so a total of three Telia base stations will operate in the event area.
“The current two would be enough for coverage, but the main issue is network capacity. We want to ensure that about 50,000 people can use mobile internet as smoothly as possible throughout the event,” explains R. Mikalauskas.
Capacity becomes one of the most important factors at large events. Even a very strong mobile signal will not help if too many users try to connect simultaneously in a small area. At concerts, people not only make calls or send messages – they take photos and videos of the performance, send videos, share them on social networks, stream live video, and use other internet services.
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During large concerts, mobile data usage increases dozens of times. Network operators record not only a higher number of connected users but also a significantly increased amount of transmitted data, as visitors actively create and share content in real time.
Priority is given to calls
In large concert areas, the network is divided into smaller zones, and base station antennas are directed to separate sectors. This way, the flow of people is distributed among different network elements, avoiding excessive load in one place. A similar principle is applied in stadiums, where different parts of the space are served by separate network elements.
According to R. Mikalauskas, this network architecture allows more efficient management of huge data flows. The more network elements can be distributed closer to people and the more precisely they are directed to specific zones, the more users can be served simultaneously.
“When thousands of people gather in one place, all available network resources are shared evenly – a little bit for all users. But it is important to know that even at network peak times, emergency calls (112) always have absolute priority; they come first. Then come standard voice calls over the mobile operator’s network (VoLTE), and finally – all data services. Calls via WhatsApp or Messenger are not equivalent. They are considered just data traffic and have lower priority, so when a call is very important, it is better to make it through the operator’s network,” says R. Mikalauskas.
He emphasizes that the importance of network architecture and additional capacity was also demonstrated by previous large concerts. About 50,000 people gathered at Pitbull’s performance at Kaunas Darius and Girėnas Stadium, but the network successfully handled the extremely high data flow in one place. This experience allows predicting that the network capacity will be sufficient to smoothly serve tens of thousands of visitors during the two days of Jessica Shy’s concerts in Vingis Park.
