How to resolve AdBlock issue? 5G Broadcast back at Olympics
As winter sports take center stage and the world turns its attention to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, an exciting chapter for 5G Broadcast is unfolding behind the scenes. Once again, the Olympics - one of the most demanding and widely viewed live-event environments - is serving as a proving ground for broadcast innovation and real-world application.
Italian public broadcaster Rai, together with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has launched 5G Broadcast trials during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. These trials build on demonstrations from the Paris 2024 Olympics and are designed to evaluate how 5G Broadcast can deliver live, free-to-air content directly to smartphones and compatible devices using traditional broadcast infrastructure and 5G standards - without congesting mobile networks or consuming viewers’ data allowances
At the same time, significant momentum is building in around Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) broadcast technology. Recent public support from the Indian government has reinforced D2M as a strategic national initiative aimed at delivering next-generation television and data services directly to mobile devices. India’s scale makes this particularly significant: enabling broadcast-to-mobile delivery in one of the world’s largest markets signals real institutional confidence in the model.
While D2M remains a developing ecosystem with important device and regulatory milestones yet to be reached, the narrative is becoming increasingly clear, broadcast technology works with mobile networks not instead of them, creating a collaborative architecture where broadcast technologies enhance the efficiency, reach, and resilience of existing mobile ecosystems. The combination strengthens national infrastructure, expands access, and opens new opportunities for both broadcasters and mobile network operators.