Our partners
Overview
Every summer, two monumental sporting events attract hundreds of thousands across the UK and Ireland. The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush drew a record-breaking 278,000 spectators, making it the largest sporting event ever held outside of St Andrews and the biggest in Northern Ireland’s history. The 2025 Defender Burghley Horse Trials welcomed approximately 175,887 spectators over four days, showcasing elite equestrian competition amid scenic parkland.
On the back of Cornerstone’s successful Special Events deployments, our second and third build-outs were completed for Virgin Media O2, delivering robust, fully managed 30-metre Gravity Based Solution (GBS) mobile infrastructure fully supporting 5G coverage across both venues.
Our response to the challenge
Both the 153rd Open and Burghley Horse Trials represent high-profile, high-footfall sporting events where reliable connectivity is crucial. This year saw a significant uplift in Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone’s performance thanks to Cornerstone’s infrastructure, resulting in noticeably improved mobile experience for attendees, vendors, and operational teams across both venues.
We collaborated closely with Virgin Media O2 to plan, deliver, and service temporary 30m mobile masts at Royal Portrush and Burghley. These fully managed deployments ensured comprehensive 5G coverage across the event sites, supporting seamless communication, improved customer engagement, and operational readiness at elite sporting scale.
Making a difference on the ground
“Delivering high-capacity mobile infrastructure for events of this scale takes precision planning and technical agility. At both The Open and Burghley, our teams worked closely with Virgin Media O2 to ensure the 30m GBS masts were deployed, integrated, and serviced to the highest standard. It’s a great example of how our Special Events proposition can translate complex requirements into seamless delivery on the ground.”
Pamandip Kang, Technical Solutions and Product Manager, Cornerstone
The result
At The Open, coverage enhancements enabled attendees to share real-time highlights without interruption, vendors to process mobile payments swiftly, and broadcasters to maintain smooth digital engagement.
At Burghley, the equestrian venue’s expansive layout and trade village benefitted from consistent connectivity, enabling mobile trading, press operations, and visitor interactions to run without network bottlenecks.
Organisers, competitors, and spectators alike remarked on the noticeably improved reliability and speed this year, especially during peak moments across both events.
Why connectivity matters at national sporting events
At high-footfall national sporting events, connectivity is no longer optional, it’s core to experience, safety, and commerce. Reliable 5G enables immediate social and media sharing, seamless transactions, and coordination for on-site teams and emergency services.
“This deployment sets a new standard for what temporary, high-capacity mobile infrastructure can deliver. By enabling reliable 5G at both The Open and Burghley, we’ve ensured that Virgin Media O2’s customers, staff, and partners stay connected when it matters most.”
– Pat Coxen, CEO, Cornerstone
Our services
- Temporary mobile mast deployment (30m GBS)
- Special Events proposition: managed infrastructure for major sporting and public gatherings
- End-to-end delivery and servicing
- Partner coordination with Virgin Media O2, councils, landowners and event organisers
- Stakeholder engagement across public and private sectors
- Supporting national venues and high-footfall events