Tuesday 3 July 2012
Project Services helping to deliver the digital switchover
For BT Wholesale Media and Broadcast switching off the last analogue TV signals in October 2012 will mark the completion of a very complex project – a new optical fibre network to carry transmissions from broadcasters to nearly 100 transmitters across the country. One of the most challenging parts of the project is the provision of new circuits to some very remote locations. It’s an extremely important programme for the UK, and its journey has been made much smoother by employing Openreach Project Services.
Paul Shields, BT senior project manager explains: “Many of these transmitter stations are located on the top of high hills and some are even on the sides of mountains. Getting a fibre access circuit to these places will always be a really demanding job that needs thorough planning. Some go underground and others overhead. In many cases we also have to get wayleaves to cross private land.”
With the large number of circuits required, using the normal processes to manage these types of issues just wasn’t going to be practical, so Paul’s team turned to Openreach for help.
The Openreach Project Services team works closely with the customer’s site managers to make sure that all potential roadblocks are dealt with quickly, and any unnecessary delays are avoided.
“By using Openreach to co-ordinate this part of the project we have been able to get a much better view of how things are progressing. This in turn helps us see issues and deal with them before they become a problem,” says Paul.
Discover how Openreach Project Services goes beyond business as usual to help customers deliver complex projects or major programmes of work. Read the full case study online at Digital Switchover Case Study.