A Scottish company has revealed the extent of its success in winning multi-million-pound contracts to instal 5G communications technology at the nation’s three biggest airports, and flagged major growth ambitions.
Exchange Communications, which is owned by entrepreneur Tom Sime and operates out of an office at Kirkintilloch near Glasgow, has also won contracts to instal 5G technology at other UK airports, including George Best Belfast City Airport.
Mr Sime, who founded the business more than 30 years ago, highlighted his ambitions to build further on its success in providing in-building cellular solutions to airports, stadiums, offices, shopping centres and residential developments.
Noting the annual profits of Exchange Communications were in the “millions of pounds” and the company had no debt, he declared: “The growth plans are big.”
Highlighting Exchange Communications’s involvement in major projects such as the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and Chelsea Barracks in London, Mr Sime said: “Although the company has been around for 30 years, I am equally enthusiastic about its potential now.”
He highlighted the part which the cellular solutions offered by his company can play in smart buildings, controlling the likes of heating and lighting systems, and reducing costs, while noting the traditional telecoms side of Exchange Communications’s business is “still going strong”.
The 4G and 5G airport projects have involved hundreds of workers, including project managers from Exchange Communications’s own staff and contractors, Mr Sime noted, adding they were “all multi-million-pound projects”.
Exchange Communications employs about 50 staff directly.
The recent project at Glasgow Airport saw Exchange Communications upgrade Scotland’s second-busiest airport with the “next generation in connectivity technology with 5G”.
This has boosted connection and download speeds across the airport, and “smart-enabled the building”, connecting vital services to the Internet of Things, Exchange Communications noted.
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Mr Sime said: “It is through a bunch of antennas throughout the airport.”
He declared that Scotland was ahead of the rest of the UK in terms of having 5G at “every major airport” and contrasted this with what he has seen as the usual geographical pattern for deployment of technology across the economy.
Mr Sime said: “Scotland tends to lag behind the rest of the UK for investment or technology.”
“We always seem to be in catch-up. I have been in business for 30-plus years.”
Referring to Scotland’s major airports now having 5G, with Exchange Communications’s project at Aberdeen completed this month and his company also having installed the technology throughout Edinburgh Airport, Mr Sime said: “We have got it right. We have been ahead of the curve on this.”
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He noted that the systems which Exchange has put in are “easily expandable”, with a 10 to 15 year life cycle and a “different architecture”, pointing out that, normally, typical IT refreshes every four to five years.
Mr Sime said: “This is not standard IT. It has a much longer life cycle that means airports can plan for [the] long term - it has something that has a proper road map in front of it.”
Commenting on the Glasgow Airport project undertaken this year, Exchange Communications said: “The upgrade will significantly transform connectivity for the more than seven million passengers that pass through Glasgow Airport per year, as well as staff and airline partners.”
It noted it had installed the “multi-carrier” project using the latest in-building technology for mobile coverage.
Mr Sime said: “This is a hugely significant project for the airport, which will result in real benefits for its passengers, staff and operators alike who demand faster connections, quicker streaming and responsive technology. Glasgow is one of Scotland’s busiest airports so it is great to see it leading the way in the industry, delivering a fast and well-connected experience.
“Delivering a highly connected environment for passengers, the airport teams and the ecosystem of suppliers that support the airport was a key objective. From social media ‘check-ins’ to touching base with family, downloading boarding passes and planning their onward journey, we know connectivity is key, and with the 5G installation it will be smarter and faster than ever before.”
He added: “Not only will this work enhance connectivity today, it will future-proof the site for the adoption of further smart building technologies in the years to come. Glasgow Airport will truly be an airport of the future.”
Gavin Revell, chief information technology officer at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports owner AGS, said: “At AGS we are embarking on a digital transformation journey centred around the provision of a seamless customer experience. In the connected world, accessibility to super-fast, reliable data networks is simply a customer expectation. This initiative ensures our airports are ready to meet the connectivity needs of both our customers and operational teams, today and in the future.”
AGS Airports is being acquired by one of Canada’s largest pension investors, in a deal announced this week.
It is being bought for an enterprise value of £1.53 billion by AviAlliance, the wholly owned airports platform of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
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