The Olympics mobile network clampdown that wasn't
London Games to be covered by all operators, actually
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The Telegraph has reported that O2 has struck a deal requiring all corporate hospitality at the London Olympics to have an O2 contract, which would be very serious if it wasn't cobblers.
The story ran in The Telegraph on Monday, and reports that all other networks will be blocked from operating within corporate entertainment areas at the London 2012 Olympics. So anyone attending the Games on a corporate junket would have either to switch onto O2, or do without their connection. It's a big deal, or it would be if it were true.
The area around the London Games doesn't have much in the way of network coverage, having been largely industrial, so the Organising Committee is working with network operators to get shared infrastructure up and running in time for the games.
O2 told us it is working with the Joint Operators Olympic Group (JOOG) to coordinate the effort, and confirmed that it had no special deal for exclusive coverage over any part of the Olympic site.
None of the operators we spoke to believes they'll lack coverage over the whole site, including the corporate hospitality areas.
Capacity is another thing: each operator has to guess how many calls will be made from the Games, and some will no doubt underestimate while others overspend.
So where did The Telegraph's panic come from? It seems that right now O2's coverage of the (building) site is better than the competition, and some areas (notably the Media Centre) don't have great coverage from the other networks.
O2 used to own Airwave, the emergency-services network which obviously has terrific coverage across the venues, so it's possible this is some legacy of that relationship, or just that O2's rapid deployment of 3G at 900MHz is helping its building penetration.
Either way, if you're offered a junket to the games next year, feel free to take any mobile phone you like, no matter what you read in The Telegraph. ®
COMMENTS
"So where did The Telegraph's panic come from?"
Probably the same place all the rest of their made-up panic comes from?
A need to sell newspapers to idiots who will believe anything?
3G 900MHZ
Good to see o2 making good use of 3G over 900 MHz
Those of you on o2 can now check to see if it's active in your area
http://status.o2.co.uk/
and check to see what the 3G900 coverage is like for a specific area
http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker
Vodafone and o2 were given permission by Ofcom to utilise the frequency at the same time
o2 have made progress yet Vodafone remain strangely silent on the subject
Anyone in the know able to shed some light?
not O2
It's VISA that has the monopoly on the site, no mastercard for you sir.
Likewise, WiFi access is likely to be BT Openzone too
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