Case Study: International Association of Athletics Federations achieves stadium-wide Wi-Fi success with Huawei

Wireless Stadium Engages Spectators

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) needed reliable, high-capacity Wi‑Fi for the 2015 World Championships in Athletics at Beijing National Stadium, where up to 80,000 concurrent connections had to be supported in a very tight three-month timeframe. Huawei was brought in to deliver the wireless stadium network, including planning, deployment, and optimization, despite major challenges from the stadium’s steel structure and complex coverage requirements.

Huawei implemented a stadium-wide WLAN solution with more than 1,000 access points, using its own planning resources and a Huawei-developed antenna calibration app to speed up difficult blind antenna adjustments. The network was installed and commissioned four days early, and on event day it supported 20,950 registered users, 7,987 peak concurrent Wi‑Fi users, average download speeds above 2.6 Mbit/s, upload speeds above 2.2 Mbit/s, and 3–4 ms ping times. Total traffic reached 16.4 TB, and the successful rollout earned strong praise from the IAAF and improved the fan experience.

International Association of Athletics Federations

Emanuele Perotti Nigra

Director of Technology and Information