Telstra reports record data use at Australian Grand Prix 2025

During the four-day Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, Telstra reported record data consumption of 94 terabytes on its network, marking the highest levels ever recorded for the event and doubling the 5G traffic from the previous year, 2024.

To elucidate the scale of the data usage, it is comparable to streaming Netflix's "Drive to Survive" Season 7 in full HD over 4,500 times or watching video continuously for nearly 11 years. Telstra's expansive network upgrades and deployment, specifically tailored for the race, facilitated this level of data transfer.

Natasha Skinner, Telstra Business Executive, said, "The Australian Grand Prix is one of the largest sporting events in the country and every year the demand for mobile data continues to grow as fans share their experience in real time."

"As far as sporting events go, this year we built one of the largest temporary network infrastructures in Australia to support the event and ensure our customers stayed connected from the first lap to the final podium – without ever having to think about it."

To support the large number of attendees, reported at 465,498, Telstra installed extensive temporary network infrastructure, including four temporary "Cells on Wheels," a full temporary mobile base station, and additional small cells. Two major nearby network sites received upgrades to handle increased mobile traffic.

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has also been among the first to trial Telstra's Secure Link Protection on its Telstra fibre network. This support covers certain venue operations such as ticketing and vendors, providing an automated security layer intended to mitigate up to 70% of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, thereby enhancing network resilience.

Skinner elaborated, "This new solution, which delivers protection without requiring modifications to existing infrastructure, was important to support the smooth running of the event and provide additional peace of mind."

"It's also why we've continuously uplifted network capacity every year since we began working with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, to make sure everyone connecting to Telstra's network at the event enjoyed uninterrupted, secure connectivity."

Ms Skinner highlighted the extensive planning and execution involved in delivering seamless connectivity for the event. "Telstra began preparing for the 2025 event as soon as last year's Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix concluded, with on-site setup starting a full month before the race weekend," she noted.

"During the event we had technicians stationed on-site every day, along with another team remotely monitoring and optimising the network to ensure an optimal experience for our customers."

She further stressed the complexities of providing high-performance connectivity at such a massive scale. "Delivering high-performance connectivity at scale is no small feat and each year we push the boundaries of what's possible – our experienced team has a deep understanding of how event-driven demand fluctuates and are committed to delivering the best experience for our customers," said Ms Skinner.