BT Group announced as official technology supplier for Emirates Great Britain SailGP this weekend

BT Group announces a new collaboration with global racing championship, SailGP, which will see its innovative 5G Standalone network slicing capabilities deliver critical connectivity to underpin the event’s operations and enhance the fan experience at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth (July 19-20).

As official technology supplier for the Portsmouth event, in which 12 national teams compete on the waters of the Solent, BT is working closely with SailGP and Ericsson, the championship’s global technology partner. This will see BT provide two dedicated network slices tailored to the event’s specific requirements, enhancing connectivity and complementing Ericsson’s role in delivering high-capacity, reliable network performance for SailGP.

Network slicing uses 5G Standalone technology to provide a dedicated, protected slice of the mobile network for specific use-cases, ensuring performance isn’t impacted if the public network is congested by users at the event. SailGP marks the first time that BT has delivered multiple concurrent network slices at the same event, showcasing the technology’s ability to keep fans connected to event experiences as well as power the delivery of seamless operations behind the scenes. It has worked with Nokia to deploy network slicing capabilities in several radio mast sites covering the event area around Portsmouth harbour, with the slicing being configured end-to-end.

Powered by EE, the UK’s best and most reliable mobile network¹, BT will provision multiple network slices to provide dedicated capacity for critical use cases including:

• Boat connectivity: To support seamless roaming between the private and public network across all 12 F50s. BT’s network slice ensures always-on connectivity for voice communications, transfer of telemetry data and on-board video.
• Point-of-sale terminals: Enabling a quick payments process in SailGP’s official merchandise shop within the SailGP Race Stadium.
• Broadcast: Working with Sony and its 5G live production products to trial new broadcast capabilities, roaming Full HD cameras will utilise the network slice – optimised for the high-capacity uplink requirements of Sony’s ultra low-latency encoders – to support a SailGP production which is broadcast to 212 countries worldwide.
• Media: Select photographers at the event will benefit from instant and assured connectivity to upload photos in real-time for use by international media. This is being delivered in partnership with Sony’s connected camera solution, consisting of Sony Alpha cameras and PDT-FP1.

Also new to the UK event is SailGP’s 360-degree AR/VR experience, which will allow fans to experience what it’s like to be onboard an F50. This high-quality experience will use new higher capacity 5G radios, being tested in Portsmouth by BT and Ericsson, that will enable ultra low-latency performance and gigabit capacity.

Kerry Small, Chief Operating Officer, Business at BT Group, says: “5G Standalone isn’t just about faster speeds – it’s about unlocking tailor-made capabilities that can transform customer experiences. In partnership with SailGP, we’ve demonstrated this by using network slicing to streamline event operations and bring fans closer to the action than ever before. It’s a powerful example of how we’re evolving the UK’s best network to deliver next-generation connectivity and more immersive experiences.”

Warren Jones, Chief Technology Officer of SailGP, says: “Bringing SailGP back to UK shores after three years is a major milestone, and delivering a world-class, tech-driven event is critical to the success of it. Partnering with BT has allowed us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in sports connectivity. In a first for SailGP, BT’s use of 5G standalone network slicing ensures the global championship can maintain real-time communications, telemetry and live video from the racecourse – this collaboration showcases how cutting-edge connectivity can transform the delivery of global sporting events.”

BT’s latest implementation of network slicing builds on a series of recent deployments, including at Wembley Stadium and Belfast Christmas market. EE’s 5G Standalone network, which launched less than a year ago, is now available to over 30 million people across more than 50 major towns and cities in the UK – covering over 45 per cent of the population.

Limited tickets to the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix still remain. Don’t miss out on the action – visit SailGP.com/tickets to experience the most exciting racing on water’s return to UK shores on July 19-20.

About SailGP

The most exciting racing on water, the Rolex SailGP Championship is a global championship with national teams battling it out in identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans at iconic venues around the world. Racing faster than the wind at speeds exceeding 100 km/h // 60mph, the Rolex SailGP Championship is driven by the sport’s top athletes, with national pride, personal glory, and bonus prize money of US$12 million at stake. Visit SailGP.com to find out more.

¹ Claim based on the RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report: H2 2024. Tested at locations across the UK with the best commercially available smartphones on 4 national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE. Visit ee.co.uk/claims for more details.

About BT Group

BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital products, solutions and services. We also provide managed telecommunications, security and network & IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.

BT Group consists of three customer-facing units: Consumer serves individuals and families in the UK; Business covers companies and public services in the UK and internationally; Openreach is an independently governed, wholly owned subsidiary wholesaling fixed access infrastructure services to its customers - over 700 communications providers across the UK.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about