When 465,498 people attend an event it’s going to put a stress on a whole range of areas, not least the public toilets and the food and drink outlets, but also things you can’t see – like the mobile networks. And Telstra is claming a big win after a staggering amount of data was transferred across it’s network across the four days.

I had no idea, but Telstra were the “official connectivity suppliers” for the Formula One Grand Prix and they say their 5G network recored double the traffic of the 2024 event – that’s in part likely to be down to increased usage, but also increased number of 5G devices.

Try to take this number in: 94 terabytes of data was consumed over the Telstra network across the weekend.

Telstra did the numberrs, that would be like watching the latest season of Drive to Survive in Full HD more than 4,500 times!

And this wasn’t just luck. Telstra deployed a large temporary network across the precinct including “CoWs” which are Cells on Wheels or mobile towers that are able to be moved to certain areas, as well as also deploying small cells across the area.

Fascinatingly, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation also used a new “Secure Link Protection” technology on their fibre network to support things like Ticketing and Vendors/Retail outlets.

Natasha Skinner, Telstra Business Executive, said it was about ensuring consistency for their customers “The Australian Grand Prix is one of the largest sporting events in the country and every year the demand for mobile data continues to grow as fans share their experience in real time.

“As far as sporting events go, this year we built one of the largest temporary network infrastructures in Australia to support the event and ensure our customers stayed connected from the first lap to the final podium – without ever having to think about it,” said Ms Skinner.

It’s not just the race teams who have to prepare for the Grand Prix, even Telstra had a team working for months on this event. Success!