Tottenham Stadium
Shared Access and Tottenham Hotspur embarked on an audacious mission in 2017 – to bring world class connectivity to Tottenham’s new stadium.
Building upon Shared Access’ previous experience deploying connectivity in large venues, the new system was designed, installed and fully funded by Shared Access. The stadium opened in April 2019 with all four UK mobile network operators live for the first game – a first in the UK.
The system ensures world class connectivity in all areas that a sports club could need covered. This covers inside the bowl for fans (and players who want to take a selfie!), internal areas to ensure Tottenham’s digital strategy and concessions can take advantage of the world class connectivity layer for any purpose they can imagine, small cell hotspots around the venue to provide dedicated capacity for fans as they congregate and sponsors to communicate to said fans, as well as larger antennae facing out towards the streets to provide coverage and capacity as fans approach the venue. These antennae ensure happy fans on approach and allow for new initiatives like digital ticketing to be considered.
Crucially, the entire pitch area has dedicated coverage. Given that the unique nature of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium allows events like concerts, boxing matches and NFL to be held, this is a game changer for the venue in terms of a competitive advantage.
As well as full stadium coverage both inside and outside, Tottenham’s office at Lillywhite House has blanket coverage which ensures that staff can take advantage of the connectivity for business purposes.
In order to fully exploit the opportunity, Shared Access worked with the club’s advisors Real Wireless, as well as each mobile network operator, to ensure the correct frequency bands were deployed and that the right capacity would always be available, regardless of the number of fans, staff or media that may be present.
Shared Access worked closely with the club through the build phase of the stadium to make sure the system was installed as efficiently as possible. This was essential to ensure the project was completed and live with all four UK mobile network operators on day one.
The system comprises:
- A hybrid active/passive distributed antenna system (DAS)
- Joint Operator Specifications (JOTS)-compliant 2G, 3G and 4G, allowing connections for all MNOs
- MIMO on 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
- 164 strategically located internal antennas including 48 pitch and bowl stadium antennas, six macro antenna locations providing external coverage and 19 low level external antennas providing podium coverage
- More than 45,000m coaxial cable
- More than 25,000m of individual fibres
- 2348 passive components
- 9 master unit racks (POI)
- 172 Low power remote radio units
- 18 High power remote radio units (macro)
- A dedicated equipment room, 100 sqm, with 80 operator racks and 9 POI racks
Sanjeev Katwa, head of technology, Tottenham Hotspur: “Creating an enhanced mobile infrastructure is a major part of our aim to create a truly world-class venue, allowing our fans to be connected at all times. This system is revolutionary, transforming the way we connect with our fans and staff.”
Chris Jackman, CEO, Shared Access: “Our brief was to design and build the system to enable mobile voice and data capabilities across the new stadium and, as a neutral host company, to carry out the detailed design and system integration. The result is a connected experience for everyone that sets the bar at its highest-ever level for stadium-based communications systems.”
Mark Keenan, CEO, Real Wireless: “We were delighted to be asked to apply our skills as the world’s leading independent wireless advisory firm to make this ground-breaking new system a reality. We applaud the vision of Tottenham Hotspur to address this at an early stage in the stadium design process and the club’s ambition to bring stadium communications into a new and exciting era.”
