Communications giant Vodafone tells YBNews how 50% of all network data usage peaks over the last two years had been football related. Tony McDonough reports.

Mobile network data use soars in Merseyside whenever Liverpool or Everton play at home – communications network Vodafone has revealed.

The company is in the process of a multi-million pound upgrade of its network in the Liverpool city region.

And it told YBNews that fans using their phones on match days was driving up demand for data.

It said following one game at Anfield in March this year there was a huge spike in data traffic in the area shortly after the end of the match.

The company said: “50% of all network data usage peaks over the last two years were football related.”

Growing demand

The mobile data traffic sent and received every day in Liverpool is equal to downloading an entire film more than 800 times.

And to cope with this ever-growing demand Vodafone has upgraded around 70% of its base stations across the city.

It has installed mobile technology within the flagpoles at Aintree Racecourse and Liverpool One.

Rob Matthews a senior manager overseeing the mobile network for Vodafone across the UK, said: “We are seeing an exponential growth in data demand and we have done a lot of work in Liverpool to upgrade capacity – particularly in the city centre.”

Overcoming challenges

Mr Matthews said Vodafone was still having to overcome obstacles to install new masts or upgrade existing ones.

He added: “Up in Southport, for example, we were refused planning for one mast and on the second site we have chosen we are facing local opposition.

“There are also issues in the city centre where we want to put equipment on a listed buildings or we can have issues with landlords and we want to look to establish better relationships with the landlords.”

Targeting businesses

Another Vodafone executive, Rob Mukherjee, now runs a dedicated team of around 40 people across the North West actively working with businesses and other organisations.

The company introduced the specialist teams to work with businesses in April.

Mr Mukherjee told YBNews: “What we are saying to businesses is ‘we want to know what your priorities are’ and see how we can use our technology to help them achieve that.”

He added that he and his team had been in discussions with the University of Liverpool about its £15m ‘internet of things’ project.

Sensor City is a joint programme with Liverpool John Moores University to establish Liverpool as a world-leading centre for research and development of sensors.

“The University of Liverpool is a customer of ours so we are taking to them to see how we can help with that,” added Mr Mukherjee.