AS the England team prepares for tonight’s semi-final in the FIFA World Cup they do so with mobile data provided by a York firm.

Three of the four semi-final teams and their support staff have used York-based Cellhire’s products and services while in Russia for the tournament.

Cellhire expects to have handled some 50 terabytes of data by all its customers in Russia by the end of the event.

Cellhire, headquartered off Shipton Road, has counted the teams of semi-finalists England, France and Belgium among its customers, as well as providing thousands of 4G voice/video and data connections to many of the World Cup teams and their support staff, global media organisations and attendees at the tournament.

TV and radio broadcasters, along with print and online newspapers, are utilising Cellhire’s SIM cards, smartphones, MiFi devices (portable, highly secure wireless routers) and other value-added telecoms and services.

The company will provide the same service to whichever of England, France or Belgium reach the World Cup final, as well as to media organisations and attendees at the event.

Cellhire will do likewise for the 2019 Rugby Union World Cup in Japan, where it has a long-established presence and is already working on plans for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Cellhire chief executive Martyn Stevens said: “We’re really honoured and excited to be supporting the best football teams and media organisations in the world.

“The volume of data that customers have used at the event so far has been astronomical and is expected to peak around 50 terabytes by the end of the tournament.

“We have an excellent track record in the sports and entertainment fields for providing data connections and telecom solutions through the close relationship we have with network providers around the world.

“In total, we have provided many tens of thousands of connections at major events, allowing the media to have fast, reliable and secure voice, video and data communications links to their audiences.”

Founded in York in 1987, Cellhire is a leading supplier to organisers, businesses and attendees during events such as the Olympics, Paralympics and Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cups, UEFA Euro finals, the Tour de France, and Wimbledon.