5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in the future By Jo Ruddock
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 12:03
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RefCam during the Bundesliga match between FC Bayern M nchen and Borussia Dortmund at Allianz Arena on April 12, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Scheuber/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images)
When Bundesliga clubs FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund meet, there's always plenty of interest and excitement around the match known as Der Klassiker. This year, however, there were more reasons to pay attention as the Deutsche Fu ball Liga (DFL) chose the match in April to debut the first-ever integration of Riedel's Easy5G private 5G network and RefCam in a packed stadium environment.
Choosing such a high-profile match to showcase this setup was a bold move, but it came after a series of tests in lower profile scenarios, as Jacky Voss, executive director strategy and innovation of Riedel's Managed Technology division, explains.
I would say we deliberately chose that match. It's super prominent here, and in Germany it's the biggest match they have. Leading up to it, we conducted extensive lab testing and several lower-stakes pilot deployments to validate the performance and reliability of Easy5G and the RefCam system. We worked closely with our partners and the league to simulate real-world conditions, stress-test the network, and ensure smooth integration into existing broadcast workflows.
The challenges around RF were particularly front of mind during these tests. As soon as you get to kick-off time, all the systems are being turned on, the noise level, or the RF floor rises, and it gets complicated, she adds. RF is usually a big challenge, and so we decided to go through some stress testing there too beforehand.
This involved testing Easy5G in a second league and then a first league game.
We pushed data through, did walk tests and we had some very, very good results. In general, I have to say that 5G within the standard is already quite resilient in terms of interference. But of course, we also wanted to prove that out before we did a big game like this with the application of RefCam on top of that Easy5G installation.
A key aspect of Easy5G is its simplicity and ease of deployment, and this was once again proved during Der Klassiker.
5G has been a buzzword in the industry for quite a while but the adoption rate is still quite low, so we really focused on reducing the complexity, and with Easy5G we achieved that, Voss continues.
In this case, it didn't even take the team an hour to rig the system. It's as easy as turning it on and entering the approved frequency, making some little adjustments here and there, assigning the SIM card for the end user devices, for the RefCam in this particular case, but that's it.
The team on site during Der Klassiker consisted of two technicians, who were responsible for setup, monitoring, and real-time troubleshooting. These were standard IT personnel rather that 5G or telco experts.
Behind this team, however, Voss is quick to point out the level of knowledge and skill available via Riedel's Managed Technology division.
5G is the right technology, and we want to raise the adoption rate with a simple system from the technology to the more organisational challenges like frequency licensing. Besides the integration into our Managed Technology Division solution portfolio, we also sell the solution, including a service offering of guiding our clients through the entire licensing process. The frequency management department know the authorities around the globe. They know exactly what the situation is and how to approve for either temporary or fixed licences in the different countries.
It's also worth noting that the possible use cases for Easy5G are myriad, as Voss explains: It's a use-case agnostic wireless backbone that is now easy enough to deploy temporarily in projects of all kinds. It's an IP connection, and you can basically do comms on it, you can do cashless payment terminals, you can do RefCam with it, you can use it for TV production. On the business case side of things, it's also interesting for us to imagine if we could install these systems in certain leagues and in the stadiums and use it for RefCam and ref communication during the weekend, and then give access to the stadium owner during the week and do cashless payment terminals to sell drinks and so on as a secondary use case. And that's really the idea, to get away from proprietary systems. We're already looking at use cases in motorsports, sailing and large-scale events.
Looking to the future, Voss says: Easy5G has a fair chance to give us way more flexibility and also more robustness in the RF space. I think it's really a big leap forward in terms of resilience of an RF layer, and therefore I'm really expecting it to take off for us in the Managed Technology division, for our rental jobs around the globe. But I also believe it can help the different broadcasters and potential Riedel clients. The future is all about flexible, mobile production and Easy5G is perfectly positioned to support that.
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5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in the future By Jo Ruddock 
