STC offers free Wi-Fi to King Abdullah Sports City Stadium spectators

Nasser S. Al-Nasser

King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah has entrusted Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to deploy state-of-the-art wireless network infrastructure from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
STC now offers Wi-Fi services to spectators in King Abdullah International Stadium that has the capacity to reach up to 62,000 spectators.
Nasser S. Al-Nasser, SVP, technology and operations, STC, said: “As per Saudi Vision 2030, we are very pleased to offer world-class services to our customers enjoying sport events. Since its opening two years ago, King Abdullah International Stadium has been widely acclaimed and praised for its elegance, supported by STC’s 3G and 4G (LTE) networks. However, the popular demand for much faster Internet connectivity, prompted us to take the decision to deploy a high performance Wi-Fi network in order to offer high-speed Internet access to spectators.”
Al-Nasser added: “After evaluating the leading vendors, STC decided to opt for Aruba’s technology, due to its market leading capabilities based on 802.11ac product line, and due to the implementation partner, BMC, a local leader in the field.
The results of this deployment have been very positive. Spectators now use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet rather than 3G/LTE networks. This offloads data traffic to Wi-Fi, while 3G/LTE capacity is spared for voice and other services, reducing network congestion. We have already received excellent comments and feedback from spectators as well as stadium officials about the high performance of the network”.
Alain Carpentier, EMEA VP, Aruba says: “We are thrilled to have won this prestigious project, continuing the close and strategic business association we have with STC. The 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology embedded into our high density access points and operated by our feature-rich software will enable spectators at the stadium to connect to a smart, secure, stable wireless network that will give them a world-class Wi-Fi experience.”