Arqiva

Arqiva (ɑrˈkiːvə) is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquarters at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, just outside Winchester. Its main customers are broadcasters and utility companies, and its main asset is a network of circa. 1,500 radio and television transmission sites. It is owned by a consortium of investors led by Digital 9 Infrastructure and the Australian investment house Macquarie Bank. Arqiva is a patron of the Radio Academy. Through its Now Digital subsidiary, it operates various local digital radio ensembles. Arqiva has a history that dates back to the beginning of regular public broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Arqiva Limited, a private limited company, was incorporated on 2 April 1990. in January 2001, it was announced that John Cresswell would head Arqiva. Below is a potted history of the various organisations that are now part of Arqiva: Responsibility for the transmitter assets of the BBC lay solely within the corporation from its foundation in 1922 until 1997. The assets were then split into a separate company, prior to being sold. The domestic transmitter network was purchased by a US company, Crown Castle, when it was privatised in 1997. Subsequently, in 2004, this was purchased by National Grid plc, which merged in its own private communication network, the name changing to National Grid Wireless in October 2005. Transmitters used by the BBC overseas services were sold to a new startup company, called Merlin Communications. National Grid plc had a large internal network for the communication of its engineers serving initially the electricity companies, but subsequently, the gas industry as well. This company developed on the back of the growth in mobile phones, and its large portfolio of tower locations. This was added to by the purchase of the former BBC network (as above).