Cellular coverage in Downtown Vancouver sees big boost ahead of FIFA World Cup | Daily Hive

Temporary Rogers cell phone tower installed in Northeast False Creek ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Kenneth Chan)

Cellular phone connectivity, coverage, and reliability is being greatly enhanced in and around the Downtown Vancouver peninsula, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Rogers announced today it has spent $5 million to improve the coverage of its network in key areas of the city, with a combination of temporary and permanent measures.

This includes the deployment of temporary cell towers on wheels and “cells on light” facilities in high-traffic areas of the city centre. These temporary cell sites will provide faster speeds, lower latency, and greater reliability for cellular users during the tournament, especially when the area sees a great influx of crowds and tournament-time operational staff.

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For instance, some of the temporary cell towers on wheels can now be found on the Concord Pacific lands in Northeast False Creek — next to the Pacific Boulevard/Quebec Street pedestrian corridor to the only spectator entrance for BC Place Stadium. Over 50,000 spectators will stream through this pedestrian route during match days to reach the security screening area.

As well, Rogers 5G+ Ultimate customers will experience “Priority Network Access” that provides them with “front of the line” access to the fastest speeds available, including during peak times. According to the company, such priority access is the first and only service of its kind in Canada.

Additionally, just in time for the tournament, Rogers has made other 5G+ upgrades at fan zone locations at SkyTrain stations and hotels.

rogers temporary cell phone tower pacific boulevard concord fifa world cup vancouver

Temporary Rogers cell phone tower installed in Northeast False Creek ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Kenneth Chan)

At the heart of the FIFA World Cup action, the company has also deployed additional 5G+ spectrum and technology at BC Place Stadium, which builds on the company’s $10-million network investment in the venue ahead of Taylor Swift’s final three concerts of her global The Eras Tour in late 2024. This increased the 5G network capacity by 38 times inside the stadium, and was equivalent to adding 22 cell towers.

Over the course of Swift’s three concerts, fans on the Rogers 5G network at BC Place Stadium used 32 TB of data, including 11 TB during her last-ever concert — setting a new Canadian record at the time.

A data usage of 11 TB is equivalent to streaming her entire music catalogue 9,450 times. Some Swifties were even able to livestream the entire final concert in high quality on YouTube, amassing hundreds of thousands of live viewers.

According to Rogers, the data used during Swift’s last concert at BC Place Stadium is equivalent to uploading 307,000 photos and 2,180 hours of video streaming.

For this latest round of upgrades before the tournament, Rogers crews spent about 7,000 hours planning and installing new network infrastructure.

“As Canada’s best 5G+ network, we continue to invest in venues so fans can stay connected when it matters most,” said Mark Kennedy, chief technology officer at Rogers, in a statement today.

“These enhancements ensure our network is ready for global events like FIFA, while delivering long‑term benefits for Canadians in Vancouver.”

Rogers’ cellular installations are in addition to the specific tournament-time infrastructure installed by Telus under contract with the City of Vancouver, which is acting as the local organizing committee for FIFA in the city.

Last fall, the City’s FIFA host committee chose Telus’ bid valued at $18.1 million to install up to 400 new public WiFi access points, deploy up to 200 new CCTV security cameras and integrate up to 500 to 1,000 existing CCTV cameras to fulfill FIFA security requirements and local public safety demands, and provide dedicated on-site and remote IT support. Rogers and Axon Public Safety Canada also submitted bids, but they were not selected.

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