As the 2024 Paris Olympics concluded, with the lights at the Stade de France turning off and the Olympic Cauldron extinguished, so too did Orange’s Olympic experiment of creating a giant network for a global event.
Last week, the French telecoms giant invited select media outlets to experience the Olympic Games firsthand. They revealed key figures and lessons from their Olympic project.
The Games’ organisers chose Orange to be the sole connectivity partner for the 2024 Olympics, entrusting the operator with providing a strong network that could accommodate over 15 million people expected to gather in Paris over a four-week period.
Not to mention, Orange also needed to support thousands of broadcasters, athletes, national teams, and more — a huge undertaking.
Bertrand Rojat, chief technology and information officer at Orange Events, spoke to TechInformed at Orange’s Olympic Village in Paris and mentioned that the telco’s plan “has been working very well” despite traffic levels that have surpassed anything seen on their network before.
TI:TALKS:TO Bertrand Rojat, Chief Technology & Information Officer, Orange from TechInformed
Orange’s Olympic network at the 2024 Games
The home nation won 16 gold medals, including one in the Rugby Sevens — for which Rojat suggested that they deserved two medals: one for rugby and another for the mobile network.
During the Rugby final, which took place at the Stade de France on 27 July, Orange measured more than 2Tb of data in just one hour on its mobile network deployed at the event.
Another success for the French during this year’s Olympics was superstar swimmer Leon Marchand. During one of his finals, other events had to stop because so many attendees were watching him compete on their mobile devices, Rojat claims.
Overall, Orange measured more than 100Tb of data in the Paris Arena during that hour; “We have never seen that kind of number before,” he added.
Orange ran a private 5G network throughout Paris to power the connectivity for the Olympics. The 5G network provided capacity across 32 spots and 120 official sites across the city.
The connectivity supported the teams on the ground and was also available for spectators. There were 21 cells operating across five sites: 12 for the opening ceremony, three at Marseille Marina for the sailing competition, four at the Stade de France for athletics, and two at two other venues. This utilised the 3.8GHz-4.2GHz spectrum.
Challenges faced by Orange’s Olympic network during the Paris Olympics
One of the main challenges, as mentioned by Rojat, was testing handovers on the network. Although Orange had been working on the service for over a year, Rojat’s team only had two days dedicated to network optimisation, which was much less than the usual 10-day stint they would normally dedicate to this task.
While Orange is the primary provider, it also opened its radio infrastructure at permanent venues, such as the Stade de France, so that other operators can also connect.
In addition to the spectators, Orange was also supporting broadcasters and media outlets.
The operator played a crucial role in the opening ceremony, which took place along the Seine, by providing connectivity for Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones, which were used as the cameras placed on boats during the event.
Orange also provided support for mobile broadcast cameras that require “very high quality, very stable” connectivity inside the Olympic venues.
How 5G made it onto the 2024 Paris Olympics connectivity podium
Another key task was providing support for press agencies, which needed to upload videos and photographs almost instantly using the 5G network. According to Rojat, around 20,000 photos were transferred on its network in just the first week of the Games.
Rojat said the network had been such a success that organisers had asked Orange to keep it live during last night’s Closing Ceremony — something that was not originally part of their plans.
“They said, ‘Please keep it alive because we need it’,” he told the gathered media. “It is very useful for them and has really simplified the way they operate during the competition.”
Rojas told the media that Orange Events, Orange’s team in charge of overseeing the Olympics, had “learned a lot” about the technology used during the event.
This included a preference for mobile technologies over wired connectivity; “Clearly, we can push for more mobile technologies at large because, in the end, it is easier to do,” he added.
More hurdles along the track
The 2024 Games have also been subject to several security concerns, like those raised during the Opening Ceremony after coordinated arson attacks caused severe disruption to some of the country’s busiest train lines.
Telecoms infrastructure also came under attack when vandals targeted fibre cables several days later, affecting around 11’000 users.
The attack did not directly impact Orange, but Rojat informed TechInformed it had been a worry when setting up the network.
“We had a special operational setup to make sure our main infrastructure was secure before the Games,” he said.
“Our Olympics team is around 1,000 people. But on top of this, we have many people who are part of Orange’s normal operation who are making sure that all our main centres are secured and operating.”
“This kind of risk was one of the key risks we had in mind, and while you cannot avoid that risk totally, you can anticipate it and prepare for it,” he concluded.
You can read all about Orange’s Olympic connectivity plan here.
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