Arqiva wins award in mixed year

UK: Satellite uplink provider and media group Arqiva has been named Teleport Operator of the Year by the World Teleport Association for its work on international sporting and general entertainment events. The Award, presented at Satellite 2011 in Washington, reflects continuing success for Arqiva, although in recent months the group reorganised its operations with redundancies and the closure of its London Docklands Teleport.

Ariva supplies satellite networks and uplinks to major sports broadcasters, including the BBC, ESPN, British Eurosport (the recent British Superbike Championships), Traffic Sports International, production company Input Media (World Bowls for the BBC) and France Television Outre-Mer. It has also moved into relaying live events for 3D digital cinema presentation.

The WTA Award recognised Arqiva’s “commitment to delivering excellence to all areas of its business”, as well as its design, engineering and technology work. Commenting on the company becoming Teleport Operator of the Year, Nick Thompson, managing director of Arqiva Broadcast and Media, says, “This award is a testament to the tremendous hard work that all our teleport teams put into delivering our customers’ services every day and the extraordinary lengths to which we go to make improvements and efficiencies. I’d like to personally thank everyone working in our teleports for earning this award for Arqiva.”

At the end of 2010 Arqiva reorganised it various operations into two main divisions; satellite and broadcasting, including TV and radio transmission, and government mobile and enterprise IT. Approximately ten percent of Arqiva’s workforce was made redundant, accounting for 250 jobs.

As part of this the teleport in London’s Docklands area was closed, with services transferred on a phased basis to Arqiva’s other sites, including those in Feltham, Gerrards Cross and Winchester. “The time is right to consolidate our teleport facilities, which have considerable capacity, geographic diversity and interconnectivity,” comments customer services delivery director Angus Blackwood. “Our existing customers are fully aware of our plans and there will be no impact on services.”