Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain this month offers Pinnacle Telecom Group a chance to show the industry its expertise in the rapid deployment of networks for high profile events. The four day visit will be broadcast by the BBC using temporary voice and data networks supplied by the Stirlingshire-based reseller.

Pinnacle's circuits will be used for security services and to broadcast sound for the BBC, as well as church radio stations. But providing the network infrastructure that will underpin the BBC's coverage of the first state visit to Britain by Pope Benedict XVI brings unique challenges.

"The Pope's coverage will be broadcast worldwide, bringing extra pressure in terms of the quality of the delivery," stated Alan Bonner, Pinnacle's Chief Executive. "The main challenge is getting all the ducks in a row. To complicate things further, we are combining traditional telephony and next generation services so it is essential for the component parts to come together at the right time."

Pinnacle will deliver a combination of traditional voice, hosted voice, data, security and sound, which is sent to the BBC's studios.
The outside broadcast teams send television pictures to the BBC via satellite and the BBC synchronises the two for broadcasting.

The project scope and requirement is growing by the day, meaning that the value of the contract, which commences on 16th September when the Pope meets the Queen in Edinburgh, will not be known until after the visit.

The Papal visit will take the total number of temporary and remote circuits Pinnacle Telecom has provided to the BBC this year to approximately 400.
Bonner added: "The BBC Papal contract is very exciting and we expect to win further high profile events of this nature in 2010."

Last month also saw the company operate at the V festivals, the Leeds festival, the Reading festival and the Shambala festival.