The telecoms equipment in the new Gottardo Arena in Switzerland meets the most modern standards, allowing fans to interact more with their community on game days. This technical and organisational feat is the work of Axians.
They take ice hockey seriously in the Swiss Canton of Ticino. The old Valascia ice hockey rink in Quinto, built in 1959 a few kilometres from the Gotthard Tunnel, was where Hockey Club Ambri‑Piotta played its home games in the Swiss National League, but had become unsuitable for events at this level, including in terms of the network coverage, which was not up to modern standards.
Swisscom, the operator responsible for telecoms equipment during construction of the new Gottardo Arena – a combined ice rink and 7,000‑seater multi-use hall completed in 2021 – joined forces with Axians, the VINCI Energies ICT brand.
“The equipment in the former stadium was quite limited, and the supporters, club and organisers wished something more” explains Diego Scheggia, Business Unit Manager at Axians Switzerland. We therefore installed sufficient bandwidth and power in the new stadium to allow almost 7,000 spectators to share big ice hockey games with their families and friends via their mobile phones.”
Advanced mobile infrastructure
To cover all the requirements of a site that also contains numerous meeting rooms, eleven sponsor lounges and four restaurants, Axians installed, on behalf of Swisscom, advanced mobile infrastructure to support fast, stable networks. “This made the Gottardo Arena the first ice hockey rink in Switzerland equipped with cutting-edge technology,” says Diego Scheggia. To achieve this, Axians installed special antennas, each equipped with eight 30-metre wired connections to avoid network congestion around the stadium.
“The first ice hockey rink in Switzerland equipped with cutting-edge technology”
“To avoid interfering with the visual site design created by the internationally renowned architect Mario Botta,” Diego Scheggia continues, “We had to make all the installations as unobtrusive as possible, while ensuring optimal reception throughout the stadium. It wasn’t always easy and at times pushed our creativity to its limits.”
Flawless organisation
A further challenge was an extremely tight timescale exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It became a real race against time. “We needed to complete the ice hockey rink before the start of the ice hockey season. The fans would have been extremely disappointed if we had failed to do so. There were supply bottlenecks at the materials suppliers’ end, and an initial consignment was lost somewhere on its journey by sea from Asia to Europe. The new order was sent by air freight at the last minute. We had to reinforce our team with installers from other Axians business units to meet the deadlines.”
But working to tight deadlines cannot be to the detriment of safety. “We had to pay close attention to ensure that regulations were scrupulously observed. Particularly given that a large part of the work had to be done at height. Numerous business units were involved in construction work in and around the site. It took a lot of coordination to avoid getting in each other’s way.”
Today, Ambri‑Piotta supporters enjoy Swisscom improved connectivity, allowing them to interact and share their ice hockey experience via social media and live streaming, uploading and downloading videos using all the transmission technologies available.
10/17/2024
