Ericsson Nikola Tesla – reliable technology partner behind a stable network at the Hippodrome concert

The previous weekend was marked by a major concert by Marko Perković Thompson at the Zagreb Hippodrome, which was attended by more than half a million visitors.
While the spotlight was directed towards the stage, a real technological spectacle was taking place behind the scenes. Although invisible to the eye, it was extremely important as it established a strong, stable, and fast mobile network that supported hundreds of thousands of users without downtime.
One of the key players in that story was our company. In cooperation with our yearslong strategic partner Hrvatski Telekom (HT), Ericsson Nikola Tesla (ENT) experts participated in ensuring quality network connectivity throughout the event.

A large-scale technological challenge
Planning, implementing and monitoring mobile network performance at events of this type are very complex and demanding processes, not only due to the number of visitors but in this specific case also due to the location. The then current capacities at the Hippodrome were not designed for gatherings of several hundred thousand people from a network infrastructure perspective and it was necessary to undertake extensive technical and logistical preparations in order to adapt the mobile network to the high level of traffic on the day of the concert.
In cooperation with other operators and the concert organizer, HT, through a series of preliminary works, ensured the design and construction of infrastructure points, laying of optical cables, supply of electricity, installation of radio equipment and a number of other technical details.
ENT, as the exclusive supplier of the radio part of the mobile network (RAN) for HT, delivered all the necessary additional equipment in just a few days. Colleagues from Ericsson Nikola Tesla’s Network Integration Department were in charge of integrating complex network configurations, while other ENT colleagues were engaged in parallel tasks of advanced network optimization.

Global solution applied locally
For the first time in Croatia and especially for the needs of this event, the advanced Ericsson Live RAN Insights solution was implemented, a system for almost instantaneous monitoring of 4G/5G RAN network performance. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to receive key feedback from the network in real time, which enables quick identification of potential challenges and timely optimization of network resources. This solution has been successfully used at some of the world’s largest events, such as the Summer Olympics in Paris last year, and this project represents its first implementation in the network of a Croatian operator.

Partnership and expertise for the best user experience
Stable network performance throughout the concert confirms the value of strategic cooperation between Hrvatski Telekom and Ericsson Nikola Tesla, as well as the level of technological readiness and expertise of domestic ICT teams. On this occasion, ENT once again demonstrated its ability to implement complex and high-risk projects, in accordance with the highest technological standards, side by side with the best practices in the world.