Wednesday 25 July 2012
My London 2012 experience: Liv Garfield
An infrastructure and a business to be proud of
I feel proud and tremendously privileged to be heading up Openreach in such a landmark year for the UK. As part of our contribution to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Openreach has installed well over 100 million metres of fibre, and countless kilometres of copper cabling to connect 94 Olympic sites across the UK, including the Olympic Park in Stratford.
An equal focus on the London Games and ‘Business as Unusual’
Of course, in addition to these headline numbers, the other part of our commitment to this country during Games time is to ensure that we ensure all of our customers receive the best possible service from us whilst accepting in some areas of the country closest to sporting venues we may all be inconvenienced to some degree by the logistics of hosting an event drawing spectators from all over the world. To that end, my team have been working closely with our customers and other key stakeholders to plan meticulously for the likely impacts of Red Routes and the Clearways 2012 programme on street access for repair and maintenance of the network.
The eyes of the world are on our network
In just a matter of days now, tens of millions of people in this country and billions more around the world will be relying on the infrastructure we’ve put in place to experience all the action as it happens. Our network will be responsible for delivering all of the high resolution footage, photography and press coverage of the Games going worldwide and will help to keep the 14,700 competitors living in the 1,800 flats at the Athletes’ Village in touch with friends and family in 205 countries.
In addition to these delivery commitments, our customers are relying on us to help people up and down the country enjoy the Games this year on big screens, at home on TV and online, placing significant demands on the Openreach network, which our ongoing network investment and NGA programmes have helped us to prepare for. It’s a huge responsibility – but the passion and enthusiasm for connecting people in our business is equally huge and I am immensely proud of the way we have approached this mammoth task to date.
Using our experience to help our customers win
There is much for any business to learn from being involved in delivering an event like the Olympic Games and I am keen that we apply the new skills and innovations we bring back into our business from our Games experience to the way we deliver for our customers moving forward.
I hope you all enjoy the momentous few weeks that lie ahead for our country as we embark on the most connected Games in history.
