BT in 'sensitive talks' about delivering Wi-Fi for London 2012

Mobile operators are in favour of the idea owing to concerns of data overload

BT's vice-president and director of the Olympic Games 2012, Stuart Hill, has said he is in "sensitive discussions" with the London Olympic Games Organising Committee (LOGOC) to provide Wi-Fi in the Olympic Park to the general public.

"Although this isn't currently in our contract we are in negotiations with LOGOC about implementing a possible public service Wi-Fi at the Olympic Games," Hill told Computing.

"LOGOC wants this to happen, as do the mobile operators. This will mean that a significant part of the data expected at the event will be offloaded onto the Wi-Fi network," he added.

Neil Crockett, Cisco's managing director of the public sector, confirmed that he has also been involved in the discussions with mobile operators, who are pushing for the Wi-Fi following concerns about whether a 3G network could handle the amount of traffic on the network.

Hill said that although cabled LAN would still be available to journalists and those reporting on the events, the increased reliability of Wi-Fi meant it could be a realistic option for the Olympic Park.

Hill anticipates there will be 6GB of information carried every second while the Games are running, the equivalent to the entire contents of Wikipedia every five seconds.

Hill said the nature of the traffic during London 2012 is likely to be 80 per cent data and 20 per cent voice, the exact opposite to what it was at the last Olympic Games in Beijing.

Hill expects LOGOC to make a final decision regarding Wi-Fi over the next three to four months, before imposing a freeze on new technology at the site in October.