The Rangers Football Club has partnered with Huawei, a global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, to bring fans into a whole new era of in-depth, Wi-Fi-based engagement.
In a seven-figure investment, the Scottish 2nd Division club is working with Huawei to provide a fully converged stadium-wide Wi-Fi deployment. The project will ultimately give every fan seated at Ibrox Stadium – as well as those in the approaches, concourse, restaurants and corporate areas – full, instant access to content-rich media and allow them to participate in real-time interactions with the club.
Starting in August on a stand-by-stand basis, the phased development will allow The Rangers to engage with fans and create the best possible matchday experience. The new set-up will remove connectivity problems in high-density areas and ultimately give 50,000-plus supporters access to club competitions, merchandising, Rangers Media, Team Talk discussions, forthcoming events and enhanced fan/club engagement.
The Rangers CEO Craig Mather commented: "We aim to provide our supporters with a world-class Wi-Fi service to enhance their matchday experience. We have teamed up with Huawei, a technology market leader and in doing so we will be setting new standards in terms of interactive communication with our fans.
"Huawei has shown an enormous appetite for, and commitment to, providing an absolutely best in class service. More and more people are using smart devices as a primary means of communication and we look forward to revolutionising the way in which Rangers fans can engage with the club before, during and after the match."
Victor Zhang, CEO, Huawei UK said: "Huawei is at the forefront of innovation in communications technology and we are very proud to have been chosen to deliver a new channel of communication between Rangers and its supporters.
"The high data capacity that WiFi delivers will allow Rangers fans to use social networks to share their experiences, as well as allowing the club to enhance its ‘digital dialogue’ with its supporters."
Stadium Wi-Fi has been under discussion at The Rangers for a number of years following fan demand, with supporters wanting to access the full panoply of Internet sport while at the ground, but being frustrated by 3G mobile network download speeds. Now, thanks to this partnership with Huawei, the Club will create a more meaningful relationship with fans as well as enhancing the matchday experience at Ibrox.
