Numbers Connect the World: Rostelecom, Tele2 and Solar Provide a Telecommunication Infrastructure for the World Youth Festival

Rostelecom was the telecommunications partner of the World Youth Festival, which was held in the Sirius Federal Territory on March 1-7, 2024, bringing together 20,000 young people from 190 countries of the world. The national provider and its subsidiaries Tele2 and Solar, provided wired and wireless communications and Internet for organizers and guests, organized cyber protection for the Festival digital infrastructure, and ensured the Festival security with an intelligent video surveillance system.

For the first time, all new telecommunications infrastructure for such a large event was built with Russian equipment.

"Our company has extensive experience in providing telecommunications support for large-scale international and federal projects, including the 2014 Winter Olympics. We leveraged our expertise in cybersecurity, video surveillance, and wireless communications technologies in addition to our Olympic infrastructure to prepare for the Festival. As a result, our partners and we were able to create a comfortable digital environment where delegates and participants could stay connected to the world and feel safe," said Ivan Petrov, Vice President for Integration Solutions and Technical Infrastructure Projects at Rostelecom.

On the eve of the international event, Rostelecom upgraded the digital infrastructure built for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The company's technical specialists laid 15 kilometers of new fiber and installed more than 200 additional switches to create an isolated wired data network specifically for the Festival. Each foreign participant of the event was able to use a SIM card with the included starter pack. The SIM card also allowed international calls. Rostelecom set up seamless Wi-Fi networks at all Festival venues, using more than 1,500 access points authorized by participant IDs, so that thousands of Festival guests could easily communicate and share their impressions. As part of the project, the company's wired and wireless communications covered more than 20 event venues: the Medal Plaza and the Iceberg Skating Palace, the Bolshoy Ice Dome, hotels, the airport, the railway station, as well as accreditation centers and security points. The signal was transmitted directly to the VGTRK hardware room in Moscow via 60 digital channels with the online broadcast of the Festival events.

 "The World Youth Festival has demonstrated the openness and hospitality of our country, and the number of applications submitted by active young people from all continents shows their sincere interest in Russia. Thanks to the help of our reliable partner Rostelecom, this bright event was realized at the highest technological level," said Ksenia Razuvaeva, Head of Rosmolodezh.

Tele2 has strengthened the infrastructure both in the federal territory itself and inside the buildings involved in the event to improve Festival participants' access to mobile Internet and voice communication. Additional equipment was installed on the Medal Plaza and in the Iceberg Skating Palace. The company also strengthened the signal and expanded coverage to hotel complexes, the Sirius Science and Arts Park and the Bolshoy Ice Dome. A special technology based on artificial intelligence has helped to effectively distribute the load among base stations so that subscribers could enjoy stable Internet even during peak network loads. Internet traffic increased by 182% during the Festival in Sirius.

All the days of the Festival, Solar specialists and representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Security Service of Russia ensured the safety of guests and organizers around the clock. 7,200 video cameras worked in a single control and monitoring circuit in Sirius. The signal was transmitted to the reserve center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, where the national provider equipped workstations for 12 experts.

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The World Youth Festival is taking place according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation.

The World Youth Festival is organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and operated by the World Youth Festival Directorate.