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Priya Padmanabhan
BANGALORE: The much-awaited 2006 FIFA World cup got off to a rousing start in Germany on June 9. Besides the hot favorites, the world's most popular event also features large-scale implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. All the 3.2 million tickets to the 64 matches are being sold with an embedded RFID tag containing identification information that will be checked against a database as fans pass through the gates. This mega-contract that is probably the most wide spread RFID deployment in the sporting world, was awarded to Royal Philips Electronics.
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) officials were keen on this technology to prevent illegal trading and make it impossible to gain entry with a counterfeit ticket. Each tag will contain the name, address, birth date, nationality, and ID card of the person who bought the ticket. German authorities did not want to take any chances on security issues at the event. The terrorist attack on eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games is still fresh in the minds of many.
Another potential RFID deployment plan -this one for tags embedded within a ball, was shelved last year. This technology was pushed by a company called Cairos and could help in scenarios in which a judge found it difficult to determine if a ball had crossed the goal line.
The RFID journal quotes Adidas, which said that the technology would require further development and testing before it could be used at tournaments of the highest professional level.
Mobile TV to get a boost
The world cup frenzy is also set to send fans rushing to access the live sporting action not just on their television screens but also on their handhelds. According to research agency, Informa Telecoms & Media, the event could adrenalize the launch of broadcast services across various countries.
For the next few years, Informa Telecoms & Media expects the worldwide broadcast devices market to be dominated by sales from the strongholds of South Korea and Japan, but by 2011, the markets of the US, China and Europe will have grown to be the key regions.
At present, service providers like 3 Italia in Italy and Debitel in Germany, would be streaming the matches across DVB-H and T-DMB networks onto mobile phones. Informa expects revenues of $300 million from users accessing the mobile broadcast services during the World Cup.
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