Antevia Networks, the telecoms equipment vendor changing the economics of 5G private networks, has announced the successful deployment of its 5G Shift end-to-end private network at Premiership Rugby Champions Bath Rugby’s historic Recreation Ground.
The new 5G private network delivers low-cost, high-performance, predictable connectivity across the entire stadium and fan zone, supporting a wide range of commercial, operational, and safety-critical applications on match days.
The roll-out of 5G private networks has been held back by high-cost and slow complex installation cycles typically involving major vendors and telecoms domain expert integrators. Designed to overcome these limitations and provide better performance than legacy Wi-Fi and congested public mobile networks, 5G Shift provides unbroken coverage using just a fraction of the access points, dramatically reducing the cost and complexity traditionally associated with cellular deployments. Powered by Antevia’s patented multiplexing and Shared Cell technologies, the network requires no RF planning, can be deployed rapidly, and can be managed as easily as enterprise Wi-Fi by the club’s existing IT team.
With as many as 14,500 spectators attending each home game, Bath Rugby previously experienced severe congestion on public Wi-Fi and macro cellular networks which would cause Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals to fail, slowing service, and impacting revenue. What began as a project to stabilise this retail connectivity has now expanded to support a growing set of use cases throughout the matchday experience leading to increased ROI. Bath Rugby uses the network to connect mission-critical and high-value applications including:
• Point-of-sale terminals for food, beverage, and club-shop transactions
• Push-to-talk communications for medical teams and match-day operations
• CCTV and body-worn cameras for crowd safety and control
• Temporary connectivity for VIP hospitality areas
• High-speed media access for journalists filing live reports
• Digital signage across fan areas delivering real-time interviews, replays and information
“Bath Rugby’s Recreation Ground is a perfect example of how simple, scalable and cost-effective private 5G can deliver real-world value. 5G Shift gives organisations comprehensive coverage with ultra-low latency at a low price point, without the complexities and heavy engineering normally associated with the deployment of private cellular,” said Simon Cosgrove, CEO at Antevia Networks. “We’re proud to be supporting Bath Rugby with a network that stands up, even when the stadium is at full capacity, and we’re excited to keep expanding the use cases that can help deliver operational and commercial benefits for the club.”
“Antevia Networks’ 5G Private Network has enabled us to provide Bath Rugby with a stable and reliable communications platform to support staff operations, incident management, and medical teams,” said Stuart Waine, Director at Spry Fox Networks. “It has also allowed Bath Rugby to elevate the matchday experience for their fans. Working with Antevia Networks has been a genuine pleasure, and we look forward to deploying their 5G Private Network solution with a wide range of other clients as part of our future growth strategy.”
Antevia’s 5G Shift leverages an intelligent, cloud-based virtualised RAN architecture built on O-RAN standards and COTS hardware. The patented multiplexing technology enables all radios to appear as a single Shared 5G cell which eliminates handover issues and significantly reduces the number of access points required. In deployments to date, this has been as few as one-tenth of those required for Wi-Fi.
The end-to-end private network is easy to design, fast to deploy and simple to operate, making enterprise-grade 5G accessible to SMEs and smaller venues for the first time For channel partners and system integrators, this opens up new markets and the ability to deliver IoT solutions for SMEs which would previously have been impossible to satisfy due to the traditional cost and complexity of 5G. For the deployment at The Recreation Ground stadium, Bath Rugby and Antevia worked with Spry Fox Networks.
