Glastonbury Festival will be “most shared live event of 2017”, EE claims

The operator will install the first permanent network mast on site this year

EE predicts Glastonbury Festival 2017 will be the “most shared live event of 2017” and data usage will increase 33 per cent year-on-year.

That’s 40TB of data predicted to be shared across the five day event which is the equivalent of 400 million selfies, EE claims.

To cater to the soon to be muddy revellers on Worthy Farm between June 21 and 25, EE will install the first permanent network mast on site. It comes as part of EE’s plans to spread its 4G footprint over 95 per cent of the UK by the end of 2020.

Last year the operator set up what it claimed to be the world’s most powerful temporary 4G network.

At the 2016 festival attendees used 25TB of 4G, which was up 130 per cent year-on-year. A fifth of the data recorded used was uploaded, the equivalent of 22 million selfies, EE claimed.

The operator, which has sponsored Glastonbury for the last five years, will provide free device charging to all 135,000 festival-goers.

Attendees can take advantage of the Juice Tube Power Bank swapping service, where they can take away a portable power bank to charge on the go.

Wireless charging will be present, compatible devices can be fully charged in 30 minutes the operator claims. The traditional charging tent will be expanded this year.

EE director of communications and sponsorship Mat Sears said: “Since EE first launched 4G in the UK, we’ve worked with the team at Glastonbury to give festival-goers the best possible network experience.

“A few years ago that meant making sure people could simply post status updates and photos, but with social media continuing its rapid growth – including the recent addition of Instagram Stories, Facebook Live and Snapchat Stories – those on site now require more data for video than ever before.”