British mobile telecoms specialist Cellhire plc is providing 12,000 mobile data connections to global media organisations, athletes and attendees at the COVID-19-delayed 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and other venues in Japan.
The media organisations include public and commercial tv, radio and online-streaming broadcasters, as well as print and online newspapers. They are utilising large data bundles on Cellhire SIM cards, smartphones, mobile hotspots and other value-added telecoms services in order to broadcast and report in real-time.
The athletes, organisers and COVID-19-limited attendees are benefiting from reliable, secure and affordable data bundles, enabling them to communicate not only in Japan, but importantly, with family and friends in their home countries. To assist the IOC and organising committee, Cellhire supplied smartphones pre-loaded with the required COVID-19 tracking apps.
Cellhire also has an on-ground support team based near the athlete’s village and broadcast centre in central Tokyo, providing a perfect platform to support its Olympic clients.
Cellhire will provide the same service at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in China and 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar next year, where the company has established relationships with network providers China Unicom and Ooredoo.
“We have an excellent track record in the global sports and entertainment fields for providing data connections and telecom solutions through the close relationship we have with network providers around the world,” says Cellhire Group Chief Operating Officer Tim Taylor.
“Cellhire is the preferred supplier for mobile data connectivity for clients involved in very large events including the Olympic, Paralympic and Winter Olympic Games, UEFA Euro Finals, FIFA World Cup, the Tour de France and Cannes Film Festival.
“In total, we have provided many tens of thousands of connections at major events, allowing the media to have reliable and secure data communications to live-broadcast to their audiences”, Taylor adds.