London Olympic Games were eagerly expected by the telecom sector, it would be the first Olympic Games held after 3G networks matured worldwide and the popularization of smartphones and tablets.
In many developed countries smartphone penetration is reaching 50%, and from now on, any hosting country or city of big global events will need to plan its mobile networks for the surge in voice and data traffic.
Huawei has commissioned Informa to run a consumer survey in London during the Olympic Games, to understand visitors’ mobile services usage and overall satisfaction during the event. The sample size was 889 interviews, split in 4 groups:
1- Londoners not attending Olympic Games
2- Londoners attending Olympic Games
3- UK residents attending Olympic Games, and
4- Non-UK residents attending the Olympic Games
Groups 1, 2 and 3 had around 20% of total interviews, while group 4 had 40% of total responses.
Even though it was not possible to access the Olympic venues, the interviews were done in the vicinities of the most important areas, these areas were:
1- Olympic Park
2- Excel Arena
3- Wembley Stadium
4- Victoria Station
5- Earls Court
Survey Results
One of the most striking findings from the survey is the prevalence of smartphones among all four groups surveyed, from 73% to 85% of respondents in each group stated that they use a smartphone. The most “connected” group are the non-UK visitors, not only they have the highest smartphone penetration rate, 85%, but also the highest tablet ownership, 17%, and the lowest non-smartphone penetration rate, 17%.