Enhancing Connectivity at the Royal Welsh Show

Royal Welsh Show improves mobile connectivity for visitors

The Royal Welsh Show, the biggest agricultural event in Europe, brings together the farming industry and rural community and plays a vital contribution to the economy of Wales. Attracting over 240,000 people, the show has a wide variety of activities, including shopping, crafts, competitions, sports, horticulture, food and drink, exhibitions, and entertainment. The Society also hosts its Smallholding Festival and Winter Fair in addition to other events on the iconic showground.

Challenge

The high number of visitors attending these events and businesses using data services for electronic point of sale, previously burdened the network with insufficient capacity. It became apparent that although there was temporary infrastructure placed on the site to help boost connectivity during showtimes, a more permanent solution was needed. The topographical and geographical constraints of Powys, known to be one of the hardest to service rural areas in the UK, was affecting visitors and exhibitors, and new infrastructure investment was required to address this.

Solution

To help improve the connectivity issue, the Royal Welsh Show organisers worked with the Welsh Government to address the opportunity of achieving enhanced digital connectivity for the event.

The Welsh Government, through commitments made in their ‘Mobile Action Plan for Wales’, initiated the requirement with two well-known Mobile Network Operators who were then supported by Cornerstone, the UK’s leading mobile infrastructure services company, to facilitate the project.

It was deemed necessary to have a new base station on the showground as an appropriate solution to the network coverage and capacity issues. Cornerstone, the Operators and the Show organisers engaged with the Welsh Government and local stakeholders, including Powys County Council, Parish Councils, Welsh Members of the Senedd and MPs, to identify the most suitable siting and design of the base station.

Consultations with local stakeholders were carried out, and planning approval from Powys County Council was subsequently achieved post-application. The base station was approved utilising new planning legislation that the Welsh Government adopted in April 2019 as part of the ‘Mobile Action Plan for Wales’.

Following this, Cornerstone and the Royal Welsh Show signed an agreement under the Electronic Communications Code legislation to help boost their mobile connectivity for show visitors. The agreement supports the Government’s intention to make it easier to install and maintain mobile infrastructure through using the Code. All parties have collaboratively worked together to make the site live for future shows.

The installation of the mobile equipment on the site is complete and offers a 4G and 5G network, which has already demonstrated the opportunities and benefits available to the Welsh rural community.