("Pinnacle" or the "Company")
Pinnacle Telecom Group plc, (AIM: PINN) the AIM listed provider of integrated telecommunications solutions, is pleased to announce that, through its subsidiary, it has successfully completed a contract to provide a national, temporary voice and data network for the BBC. The network was for the BBC Election Night TV coverage on the 6th and 7th of May, and comprised of 550 voice and data circuits, which extended to 198 locations across the UK. Given the nature of this high profile contract announced in RNS 2415L on May 4th, the full details could only be announced on contract completion, for reasons of confidentiality.
The network consisted of circuits in: -
· BBC Television Centre in London
· BBC Millbank in London
· BBC Oxford Road in Manchester
· A boat on the Thames by the London Eye, used for live interviews with Andrew Neil
· BBC outside broadcasts across the UK
· Counting halls & Town halls
· The three main Political Party HQ's
On the night, Pinnacle's circuits delivered the broadcasted voice for the Election Night TV coverage; whilst the outside broadcast TV pictures were delivered via satellite. Pinnacle's circuits were also used to report the first declaration, which came from the Houghton and Sunderland South result, this was also the peak of the BBC's overnight viewing figures, which showed that between 9.55pm and 2am, a peak audience of 6.6 million tuned in to watch the BBC Election Night coverage on various BBC channels.
Commenting on the contract, Alan Bonner, CEO of Pinnacle said: "We continue to make good progress and I am delighted that Pinnacle was so effective in creating and delivering a temporary, national voice and data network for the BBC. One of Pinnacle's key services is to enable rapid deployment of IP telephony and data, to remote and temporary locations, which also reduces costs and improves productivity. The BBC Election TV Coverage was a great success, swiftly followed by connectivity for the BBC Radio1 Chris Moyles Show and the BBC Radio1 Big Weekend, which were both broadcast from Bangor in Wales.
We are presently supplying circuits at the Chelsea Flower show to deliver wireless networks, CCTV and other services around the event. As Pinnacle continues to evolve its business from traditional telephony, into the next generation of IP telephony and associated services, we expect to win further contracts of this nature.
We currently have further contracts to supply Donington Download, Glastonbury, T in the Park, Milton Keynes National Bowl, Millennium Stadium and T4-on-the-Beach.
The interim results to 31 March 2010 will be issued on or before the end of June.
Pinnacle Telecom Group plc is a value added, solutions based provider of integrated telecommunications services including IP solutions. It focuses on the SME market across the UK, where it provides a wide range of communications solutions including telecommunications calls, access and consultancy, IT support, mobile solutions - both voice and data and hosted broadband voice services.
Pinnacle (previously Glen Group plc) underwent a fundamental restructuring during late 2007 - a process that has taken over two years to show concrete results - and which included the disposals of Eclectic and inGroup and a focus toward recurring revenue streams (88% of revenues in 2009 up from 33% in 2008) from non-recurring projects. Pinnacle is a fully licensed Public Telephone Operator, has its own telephone network and interconnects with BT, Virgin Media and THUS. It has its own hosted voice (VoIP) platforms and engineers and owns Scotland's oldest ISP (and a founder member of Nominet), operating from its data centres in Glasgow, London and Brighton.
Pinnacle's strategy is to be a SME focused, value added, solutions based provider of converged communications services, driven by leveraging organic opportunities as well as through targeted acquisitions.
For further information please contact:
Pinnacle Telecom Group plc
Alan J Bonner, Chief Executive 0845 119 2100
Zeus Capital Limited
Ross Andrews 0161 831 1512
Rivington Street Corporate Finance Limited
Jon Levinson & Leo Godsall 0207 562 3389