Press Release | 10 Sep 2015

VODAFONE AND SIS LIVE PARTNER TO BUILD A BROADCAST-ENABLED NETWORK TO CONNECT MAJOR UK SPORTING VENUES

Vodafone UK is partnering with SIS LIVE to provide resilient, high capacity, fibre connectivity to transmit HD live TV streaming of national and international sporting matches directly from many of the UK’s top football and rugby grounds to broadcasters.

SIS LIVE is one of the UK’s leading connectivity providers of critical media content, supplying live coverage of major sporting events to UK and international TV broadcasters and distributors. To support this critical role, Vodafone UK has designed and delivered a robust IP fibre and transmission network to enable content to be transmitted live from the pitch side back to SIS LIVE’s broadcast hubs in MediaCityUK and Milton Keynes. These hubs monitor, control and distribute content received from every venue to the broadcasters.

As premier league football and international rugby tournaments draw a worldwide audience of millions, high capacity and resilience in these venues is vital to ensure every try, conversion and goal from every stadium gets to the broadcasters in real time and in full HD. To ensure resilient service delivery, Vodafone has combined its robust fibre network with microwave links at the main rugby stadia offering unparalleled resilience. In addition, SIS LIVE will be deploying at least one satellite truck to every venue.

Dave Langhorn, Head of Large Business for Vodafone UK said: “Vodafone plays an important role in ensuring connectivity for businesses and consumers alike, across both our mobile and fixed networks. Our partnership with SIS LIVE highlights the critical role we play as we help to ensure top flight football matches and rugby games of international importance reach the broadcasters whose coverage is watched by millions of sports fans across the globe. We believe that we are the only UK communications provider to have connected all current premiership grounds and 13 rugby venues around the country in this way and our investment in connecting stadia also means the fibre connectivity installed will be available to SIS LIVE beyond this season’s tournaments. Combining Vodafone’s connectivity expertise and SIS LIVE’s expertise will mean sports fans won’t miss a moment of this season’s events.”

David Meynell, Managing Director, SIS LIVE said: “Thanks to Vodafone, SIS LIVE’s access to an ever-expanding network of fibre-connected sites combined with our own significant broadcast infrastructure which includes dual 24/7 network operation centres and a large mobile satellite fleet, will enable us to become the number one connectivity partner for critical media content.”

About Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed-line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK’s first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester and now have 5G in locations across Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain as well as the UK. Meanwhile, our 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population.

Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. Vodafone is the largest provider of full fibre in the UK – our superfast broadband services are now available to nearly 12 million homes across the UK.

Sustainability is also at the heart of what we do: as of 1 July 2021, 100% of the grid electricity we use in the UK is certified to be from renewable sources.

For more information about Vodafone UK, please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk.

Vodafone UK Media Relations

Telephone: +44 (0) 1635 693 693

Email: ukmediarelations@vodafone.com

Twitter: @VodafoneUKNews

Website: https://vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/

Vodafone Limited

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