Russia is expecting to welcome over 1 million fans to the World Cup 2018. That’s a million roamers with devices able to send stadium selfies or upload goal footage to social media. The impact on roaming traffic will be unprecedented.
Past large events have taught us to expect roaming traffic in the host country to increase by 2 or 3 times the average, but for some customers this will be significantly higher; as several countries who have qualified for the World Cup do not typically have many roamers in Russia.
But it’s not only roaming in Russia we need to think about. Customers on their summer holidays can’t resist live streaming games. When the Dutch women won the UEFA European Championship Final in 2017 KPN saw an unexpected 6 fold increase in overall data roaming. Imagine what would have happened if the Dutch had made it to Russia this year!
There’s a lot to think about. We at iBasis already know what needs to be done to take the stress out of the World Cup for you.
Carriers World named us Best IPX Service Provider in 2017 and since then we have quadrupled our network capacity in Europe, so we are ready for all that summer 2018 will bring.
We have customized our Advanced Event Management Program, for you and your roaming partners in Russia, specifically for World Cup. Think of proactive monitoring of the quality between your network and all Russian networks, minute-by-minute analysis of roaming quality during each game and post- game quality statistics including subscriber trend data. This is just a sample of what is included in the program, which is designed to make it easier for you to sit back and enjoy the match.
To learn more about all the different elements of this program do not hesitate to contact me at mhallinan@ibasis.net or your Account Manager.