Technology meets gymnastics
Photo: Florian Aeby
70,000 athletes, 140 competitions and ten action-packed days – in the background, a network holds everything together. Swisscom Broadcast established a network for the 2025 Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival
in Lausanne.
From 12 to 22 June 2025, Lausanne pulsated to the rhythm of sporting excellence. The 77th Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival featured 140 competitions in 22 disciplines and attracted around 70,000 athletes and numerous guests. While people were sweating, cheering and judging on the competition grounds, the digital infrastructure set up and operated by Swisscom Broadcast was running at full speed in the background.
The technical backbone
It centred around a 1 Gbit /s-fast and redundant data line, which was distributed radially from the Swisscom building in Lausanne via fibre-optic cables to around ten locations in the city.
But what does 1 Gbit/s actually mean?
It’s quite simple: this speed allows the transmission of 1,000 megabits per second. This makes it possible to transport large data volumes in a lightning-fast and stable manner. This is of crucial importance for an event such as the Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival. Security-related communications, results, videos or cashless payments must be transmitted instantly and reliably – even when thousands of devices are online at the same time.
Invisible yet indispensable
To ensure that this network functions smoothly across the entire gymnastics festival grounds, our technical team set up and maintained highly complex infrastructure. To this end, they have done the following:
- Installed 70 network distributors and 40 WLAN transmitters and strategically distributed them throughout Lausanne to ensure a stable connection everywhere.
- Connected 50 4G and 5G routers to provide judges on the competition grounds with reliable WLAN.
- Laid more than ten kilometres of fibre-optic cable across the city to ensure fast and secure data transmission.
- Installed 30 telephones with Smart Business Connect platform and set up call groups for communication, command and emergency services.
- Last but not least: 450 payment terminals that enable cashless payments and were connected to our network.
Our on-site solutions
Our Push-to-Talk over Mobile (PTToM) radio solution was used throughout the event. Another key element was our video security solution. Fifteen cameras provided live images directly to the emergency services – a real contribution to security for everyone involved.
Strong network, strong teamwork
During the three-week set-up period, the ten-day event operations and a week-long dismantling phase, real teamwork was required: under the leadership of Romain Pierrehumbert and Julien Worrell, numerous specialists were engaged – committed, solution-oriented and often around the clock.
A big thank you goes to our partner Swisscom Switzerland and cablex, who supported us throughout this time.
The event ended with a Swiss Federal Gymnastics Festival that was not only a sporting highlight, but also a digital highlight – thanks to reliable infrastructure, clever planning and a passionate team. Swisscom Broadcast – establishes networks for moving images: quickly, securely and stably.
Photo: Gaia Amaranta Taberna
