Rogers spends $8 million to upgrade 5G network ahead of Taylor Swift concerts, Canada Reviews

Taylor Swift will be performing in downtown Toronto at the Rogers Centre in a series of epic concerts next month as part of her Eras Tour, and Rogers is expecting record-breaking data usage. On Thursday, Rogers announced that it has completed an $8 million upgrade to its 5G network at Rogers Centre, which will deliver three times more 5G network capacity throughout the stadium (this is equal to what would traditionally be covered by 33 towers in downtown Toronto).

This is critical, as past Eras Tour experiences indicate that thousands of fans will likely be livestreaming at the same time.

During one show at Wembley Stadium in London, Swifties consumed a record 5.58 terabytes (TB) of mobile data at the stadium (so, enough to stream her entire music catalog 4,500 times, which would take about 10 years).

Then there was Swift’s concert at the MCG Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, where fans used an average of 15 TB of data per night.

At the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, AT&T’s network handled 28.9 TB of data during the busiest day of Swift’s three-day tour stop there (fans shared 200,000 photos or 400 hours of video).

In Toronto, technical teams spent 6,000 hours planning the project and 10,000 hours installing new equipment and infrastructure. They lifted and installed antennas near the top of the Rogers Centre’s 86 metre-high roof to bring fans with floor seats the same 5G network experience as those in stadium seats.

“As the proud presenting sponsor of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, we’ve upgraded our 5G network to get ready for fans at Rogers Centre,” Mark Kennedy, Rogers’ Chief Technology Officer, said in a statement. “Taylor fans use record amounts of data to livestream as well as share videos and photos from her shows, and this investment will ensure they have the best experience.”

After upgrades started this summer, network performance began to improve — fans on Rogers’ 5G network at the Pink concert in August saw download speeds twice as fast and upload speeds eight times faster than the Diljit Dosanjh performance in July, where 5.4 TB of data was used.

Swift will perform across two weekends at the Rogers Centre in Toronto — from Nov. 14 to 16 and Nov. 21 to 23 (with more than 240,000 concert-goers expected to attend). Her concerts are expected to bring in over $280 million to Toronto’s economy,  so tons of Toronto businesses are preparing for her arrival with Swift-themed events. You’ll want to look your best throughout all these experiences, so click here for the best Toronto shops to find Taylor Swift Eras-inspired tour outfits.