What the World Cup meant for broadband networks

By Alessandro Gropelli, ETNO

It was November 2022 when Qatar suddenly topped the list of the world’s fastest mobile internet speeds. Last year’s FIFA tournament was about sports as well as a necessary democratic debate on human rights in the host country.

However, on a less controversial level, internet geeks might wonder how it impacted broadband networks. Per Ookla, “Qatar rocketed to first place on the Speedtest Global Index with a median download speed of 176.18 Mbps in November 2022”. The country had a good reason for heavily investing in networks: last year’s World Cup has eventually turned into a massive testbed for the future of streaming and network resilience.

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