Ericsson prepared the Telefónica network for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

The Ericsson Key Event Experience was implemented for the first time in Brazil by Telefónica | Alive. The solution was developed in the stadiums, press centers, airports and official spaces of 6 cities where the World Cup was held.

Ericsson implemented “Key Event Experience” to support Telefónica | Live during the 2014 Soccer World Cup held in Brazil. The solution, used in large-scale events, which usually lead to high demand in mobile traffic, was used for the first time in Brazil by the operator. Thanks to this, the quality of the operators' network is improved, improving the user experience during the period in which the event takes place.

With the increased use of smart mobile devices in the market and the consequent increase in demand for mobile broadband, there is a natural increase in user expectations regarding network quality and service. To this we must add the higher level of demand when millions of users concentrate in a specific area and share videos, photos and tweets, pushing the network to its maximum capacity.

Studies carried out by Ericsson during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa showed that there was a 40% increase in voice services compared to the start of the championship, and the use of data services was 10 times higher than the standard of the period. This demand, which was even greater at the World Cup in Brazil, required good network performance, not only in the stadiums but also in places of strategic importance for the organizers, such as press centers, airports and match broadcast spaces, where the Ericsson solution was also considered.

Paulo Cesar Teixeira, CEO of Telefónica | Vivo, highlighted that "smartphones are the main tools through which people who were in the stadiums could record the matches. This naturally leads to an increase in the capacity of our network. Our objective when implementing the Ericsson Key Event Experience solution was to adjust our network to offer our users the best user experience during the event."

Sergio Quiroga da Cunha, president of the Latin America Region at Ericsson, indicated that "the Key Event Experience solution positioned Telefónica | Vivo in a very positive way with its users during the matches played in the cities in which we already offer equipment and services. All the knowledge that we have gathered over several years of achieving the requirements in terms of size was used to make an in-depth diagnosis of the network situation. This represented a great alliance where a rigorous managed services process was involved."

The preliminary study began in February with the participation of a group of Ericsson experts from other countries who have been directly involved in recent major events, such as the Super Bowl in the United States and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Two servers were installed next to the service provider's network management system to extract network performance data and report every 15 minutes during the World Cup period, to evaluate network performance and indicate preventive actions.

Designed to help operators maintain high service levels, and provide expertise in the areas of planning, design, implementation, optimization and failure management, Ericsson's solution was implemented in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiabá, Manaus and Salvador. Other key features of the large event experience include: real-time performance monitoring, active traffic management and proactive response to unforeseen events.