Spectrum Telecoms helped CNN to broadcast Royal Wedding around the world
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 4 July 2018
Midlands-based communications solutions provider Spectrum Telecoms played a pivotal role in ensuring global news giant CNN’s live coverage of the Royal Wedding went off without a hitch.
The firm, based in Burton upon Trent, landed a deal to provide CNN with the telephone lines, broadband connections and mobile services it needed to support its TV news operations at several locations around Windsor on the day of the Royal Wedding.
Spectrum has enjoyed a long and well-established relationship with CNN and its parent company, Turner Broadcasting, which goes back several years. Its usual relationship involves providing its company mobile phone users with a dedicated service desk for any mobile-related issues queries or changes.
In February, CNN contacted Spectrum with an enquiry about using 4G antennas to provide temporary connectivity in outside areas. Spectrum’s initial advice was that using 4G over a mobile network on the day of the Royal Wedding was unlikely to work very well for them, as the number of people in Windsor using mobile networks would significantly impact their performance.
Instead, a short-term installation of dedicated phonelines and broadband connections would be required to help CNN to make calls, send emails, use the internet and connect back to the office on a day where the mobile networks were very busy and, at times, unusable.
The project was headed up by Customer Services Manager Andrew Blaikie, who had organised many of these types of install for the BBC in a role with a previous employer, including covering the Royal Wedding in 2011.
He said:
“Spectrum was proud to work with CNN to provide the vital remote connectivity required to help it deliver its coverage of the Royal Wedding to millions of homes around the world.
“In all, we arranged the installation of 64 dedicated telephone lines across three locations in Windsor, 24 of which were also broadband-enabled, so that CNN’s users could, in effect, have their own locked-down internet network on the day.
“The eyes of the world were on the Royal Wedding and it was vital that CNN’s coverage went off without a hitch and it was fantastic to be able to ensure that it didn’t, and millions of people got to enjoy this special day from the comfort of their own homes.”
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