The contract will include all BBC International’s partners based at the Stratford Broadcast Tower, the BBC’s 22 storey building which overlooks the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and the Orbit Tower.
"We have been negotiating this unique opportunity for a long time and are therefore delighted to announce that Pinnacle will provide data, voice and connectivity services for the BBC and its worldwide international broadcasting partners at the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Alan Bonner, CEO of Pinnacle Telecom.
The agreement means Pinnacle will supply the fibre connections; microwave back-up links and analogue and ISDN connectivity. It will also be responsible for the supply of the IP telephone switchboards, telephone handsets and data connections to all of Stratford Tower’s offices, studios and production crews.
"Pinnacle Telecom Group plc have been supplying the BBC with short-term data connectivity and telecoms solutions for some time now, the services that Pinnacle will provide at the Stratford broadcast tower will enable each international broadcaster to have their own data, telecoms and switchboard services for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Jamie Hindhaugh, BBC’s head of production.
Pinnacle is also working with Atos and its interconnect agreements with CMC and other international data carriers to ensure that all media partners have direct point-to-point fibre connections direct to the broadcaster’s own country for editing and re-transmission around the world.
Pinnacle has a long history with the BBC, including providing infrastructure for the 2010 UK General Election, the Pope’s UK visit and the wedding of then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but the Olympics is expected to be bigger again with
an expected global television audience for London 2012 in excess of 4 billion viewers.
