Earlier this year, the 28th Universiade – the biggest international sporting event of its kind – was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, attracting more than 2000 student athletes from 57 countries and a worldwide audience of more than 1 billion viewers.
The event was broadcast live from numerous sports facilities, including ice stadiums, ski jumps and ski slopes in and around Almaty. By using InfiLINK XG, the advanced high capacity InfiNet Wireless solutions capable of reaching up to 500 Mbps, the national operator JSC Almatytranstelecom was able to reliably deliver high definition video streams both to local and foreign television broadcasters.
The basic requirements for the selected solution was the ability to guarantee uninterrupted connectivity over a wide area, providing reliable communication links in challenging urban environments, as well as operating in extreme climatic conditions with very low temperatures, high humidity and intermittent snowfalls.
The InfiLINK XG solutions, all fitted with high gain 28 dBi integrated antenna, were deployed both on mobile units as well as fixed locations dotted around the sports facilities, thus ensuring stable high speed connectivity with minimal data loss for seamless transmission of TV signals.
Genghis Khan Nysanbayev, the commercial director at Almatytranstelecom branch, commented: "We tested a number of solutions offered by other manufacturers and decided to opt for the InfiNet solutions because it has proven to be the most reliable and cost effective in the challenging topology we needed to deploy in. In addition, it is well suited to the harsh climate of our region as it delivers high quality TV streams even when the wireless antennas and mast structures are iced over. InfiNet’s solution has allowed us to deliver live broadcasts with the highest possible quality of service for the organizers of the Universiade and the billion people that watched the various competitions throughout this event".
Previously, InfiNet has provided high definition solutions to broadcasters covering the last three Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and Brazil, respectively.