Olympic Mobile Data Strain Hampers London 2012 TV Coverage

Spectators at some Olympic events yesterday were asked to avoid sending non-urgent texts and tweets due to fears that the overloading of mobile networks was affecting television coverage.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the men’s cycling road race course from London to Surrey on Saturday, but the strain they placed on mobile networks is believed to have interfered with the cyclists’ GPS systems.

This meant that commentators were unable to tell viewers at home how far ahead the leaders were from the peloton, adding insult to injury for many British fans who were hoping to see the Isle of Man’s Mark Cavendish win gold on the Mall.

Olympic mobile problems

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has conceded that asking users not to use their mobile phones might not have much of an impact on their habits. Ironically, many made the situation worse by venting their anger on the social networking site.

Many blamed the BBC for the issues with the cycling coverage, despite the fact that footage is provided by the Olympic Broadcasting Services to ensure uniform and impartial coverage at all Olympic Games. It is feared that the same problem could affect the triathlon and marathon, both of which take place on the streets of London.

BT, the official communications service provider to London 2012, claimed this will be the “most connected Olympics ever” and has sought to reduce any impact on mobile networks at the Olympic Park by installing the most high-density Wi-Fi network in the world.

It also plans to use social media to identify problems at the Games, with LOCOG CIO Gerry Pennell saying that these were the first Olympic IT systems to be built with mobile in mind. According to our recent poll, TechWeekEurope readers did not think that mobile network overload would be an issue during the Olympics, with just 2.8 percent flagging it as a potential consequence.

Update: “During Saturday’s road race there was an issue with the network provider’s signal. As a result the delivery of some of the data could not be sent to the broadcasters,” The IOC told TechWeekEurope. “This did not affect the time keeping of the race and the results in any way.  The issue was dealt with and the system worked for the Women’s road race yesterday.”

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