Etisalat installs 105 mobile sites for Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix

The Etisalat team worked over a period of eight months to design and install the required solutions to ensure complete coverage for the thousands of tourists, international media and racing teams at the event.

Etisalat connected the Yas Island in Abu Dhabi with its robust connectivity infrastructure providing mobile and data connectivity to the teams, broadcasters, suppliers and spectators. The telecom infrastructure not only enhanced the sporting experience for the spectators, but also assisted the participating teams to benefit from the data connectivity solutions to relay live information from the race track to the team's headquarters and other key locations.

Etisalat was initially briefed to expect a capacity of 50,000 people at any one point in time. However, the company planned for much more to ensure connectivity. This was a major engineering challenge as it called for integrating the telecom platform across several locations including hotels and the Corniche area.

Etisalat's reliable technology infrastructure and broad band connectivity along with its secure global partner networks, in effect, connected the race track to the rest of the world in real time. This provided an unsurpassed experience to millions of customers and spectators across the globe, who were able to witness the motorsport live.

Etisalat's Mobile TV service allowed its customers and avid F1 fans to stay updated with every passing second of the race through the AUH Sports channel that streamed the race live, which also could be viewed on their 3/3.5G enabled GSM handsets.

Etisalat's network of contact centres and outlets enables its customers to acquire services as per their convenience. F1 visitors largely benefited from these points of sale and service located across the country at vantage points at airports and border crossings.

Etisalat has the largest international network in the region. It partnered with more than 525 telecommunication service providers worldwide for flawless mobile connectivity, both voice and date, for F1 spectators as well as participants.

Etisalat also designed a unique promotion to keep pace with the Formula 1 excitement, through the most unparalleled feeling live racing experience with Etisalat F1x3 race car, which goes from 0-200km/hr in 4.8 seconds.