- The swimming federation and the organisers were extremely satisfied with the services provided by Antenna Hungária.
- Antenna Hungária broadcasted the events of the 2022 FINA World Championships with excellent quality and without any errors.
- The 326 hours of television coverage reached 192 countries and streaming was also continuous.
- The telecommunications subsidiaries of the 4iG Group, Antenna Hungária, DIGI, Invitech, and Hungaro DigiTel, have collaborated to provide a high-quality IT and telecommunications backdrop for the competition.
Antenna Hungária Zrt. was broadcasting the FINA World Championships in Budapest for 326 hours without any errors and with the high quality expected of it—despite the extremely short preparation time, unexpected events, repeated power cuts and storms. For the World Aquatics Championships in five sports (swimming, water polo, open water swimming, high diving and diving). In seven locations, 130,000 viewers watched the events live, which were broadcast by Antenna Hungária, so that TV viewers could experience the excitement of the competitions.
“We are grateful to Antenna Hungária for broadcasting the 19th FINA World Championships in a high quality and without any mistakes, despite the extremely short preparation time, bringing it to the viewers of 192 countries and at the same time our reputation.” - said Sándor Wladár, President of the Hungarian Swimming Federation and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 19th FINA World Championships, adding “We made history by hosting the FINA World Championships in just four months with 5000 representatives from nearly 200 countries. It is no exaggeration to say, as the President of the International Swimming Federation said, that this was the best World Championships ever, and Antenna Hungária contributed to its success.”
“We have laid out eighteen kilometres of camera cable, with a total of 171 cameras, a variety of underwater specialised equipment, drones and spider camera rigs to provide viewers as much detail as possible. Drawing on the experience of the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, we managed to organize the entire television coverage of the event, which was brilliantly done by Antenna Hungária thanks to the expertise, enthusiasm and perseverance of more than 350 of our employees.”, emphasized Gyöngyvér Papp-Gerlei, Deputy CEO of Antenna Hungária Zrt.
Antenna Hungária was not only responsible for the television broadcasts, but also for the construction of the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) as host broadcaster and the establishment of Technical Operation Centres (TOC) at seven locations. In addition, the telecoms company provided the technical needs of the two dozen media companies visiting the site, setting up 31 commentator stations and 53 mixed zones for interviews.
Antenna Hungária provided the telecommunications, IT desktop and IT security services for the event with its own staff of more than 120 people and the involvement of ten subcontractors. The telecoms company set up a high-capacity private data network between the venues, providing full data transmission (TV, video, internet, data) between each venue, and also set up an IT and telecoms management centre dedicated to the event. Antenna Hungária has deployed several separate wired and wireless sub-networks on the established network, with hundreds of active devices (more than 300 AccesPoint and 140 switches). Antenna Hungária has deployed around 1,300 fixed endpoints for FINA, the Organising Committee and media companies. The secure data stream was guaranteed by Antenna Hungária’s own DDoS prevention service. The telecom company has fully protected its IT systems against cyber-attacks with central firewalls and its own security operations centre. The company also provided a continuous streaming service of the competitions to FINA’s official YouTube channel. Antenna Hungária installed nearly 120 on-site displays and provided IPTV services on them, as well as nearly 400 IT clients and communication devices, which were essential for the communication between the organisers.
The provision of broadcasting, telecommunications and IT services for the FINA 2022 World Cup in Budapest has shown the real benefits of close cooperation between 4iG Group member companies. HungaroDigitel partnered with Antenna Hungária Zrt. to provide the technological background for the World Aquatics Championships, providing SNG satellite transmission services for the tasks at Lake Lupa. DIGI provided the system installation and operation services at the sites on Margaret Island, while Invitech and Antenna Hungária jointly provided leased line services at two other sites.