History

Pittsburgh International Telecommunications was established in 1983 as Mobile Satellite Communications, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company provided mobile satellite uplinking services and owned and operated one C-Band transportable vehicle, which serviced the major television networks for special events.
In 1985, PIT built a permanent facility located 15 miles northeast of the Pittsburgh business center. The site is located just below the knoll of the second highest point in Allegheny County and provides excellent microwave line-of-sight to downtown Pittsburgh. The site is shielded from major business centers by a hill of similar size, isolating the facility from electromagnetic radiation interference. Soon after, PIT installed a Transmission Operations Center (TOC) and began providing 24-hour a day, 7-day a week programming services for television networks and stations. Later, C-Band and KU-Band capabilities were installed, along with a microwave system to downtown, a second C-Band transportable unit, and, a fiber connection to the local exchange carrier, Bell of Pennsylvania.
PIT was instrumental in the start-up of the KBL sports network, providing KBL with programming services including live and tape broadcasting along with commercial insertions and ran for several years as a 24-hour service. Later, Liberty Media selected PIT to start up its new 24-hour network for CATV and direct-to-home television. In 1988, the company was renamed the Pittsburgh International Teleport and more recently, Pittsburgh International Telecommunications, Inc.
In 1989, a Hughes Network System shared data hub was added, and PIT entered the Data and VSAT business. In addition to its uplinking services, PIT could now build and manage VSAT networks, which carry voice and data traffic for corporate customers - which they did, and began to deploy a number of VSAT video services along with satellite private lines to foreign countries for voice, data and Internet traffic. By 1990, PIT increased its activities in the international communications arena. It purchased standards conversion equipment to transmit and receive video for its customers around the world. During that same year, they contracted with the U.S. government for the confidential transfer of telecommunications and compressed video circuits between the U.S. and NATO in Europe. Soon afterward, PIT began supplying full time services to Central America for the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), headquartered in Pittsburgh. As part of this contract, they helped to establish a new INTELSAT IBS service between Pittsburgh and Kamsar, in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. In 1995, the Company designed and installed the Pittsburgh VideoTech Center, located in downtown Pittsburgh. The VideoTech Center offers a complete range of video services including pre- and post-production, live and pre-taped news feeds, and uplinks for all of the broadcast and cable news networks. In addition, the VideoTech Center provides corporate customers with videoconferencing, teleconferencing, Satelllite Media Tours, a host of other video communication services.
Today, PIT continues to expand its scope of services to a growing customer base including, but not limited to, major corporations, international telecommunications carriers, television networks, government agencies, and universities. Video Services provides uplinking and downlinking to every major network, as well as numerous individual stations, ethnic broadcasters and business television clients. The Company also provides voice and data service between the U.S. and a number of countries in South America, Europe and Africa. These facilities handle voice minute refile through the U.S., LAN to LAN data connectivity, video conferencing and Internet access.
PIT's more recent objectives include the expansion of its Direct-to-Home delivery of ethnic broadcasters and the deployment of its Satellite Private Networks for corporate clients. To assist with the completion of these goals, PIT now leases multiple transponders on various satellites. Because of this initiative, both strategies have proved to be successful endeavors and are rapidly becoming cornerstones of their future growth. PIT has become a leading service provider for foreign channels targeting international communities in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. Customers come from all over the globe and include broadcasters from Israel, Turkey, Romania, Iran, Kuwait, India, China, Thailand and others. The Satellite Private Network platform, or 'Business Television', consists of the design, installation, and delivery of network quality broadcast services (including point-of-sale advertising, VSAT data transmission, training, video conferencing, etc.) to tier-one corporate customers. The nation's largest healthcare provider, HealthSouth Corporation is among PIT's current customer base in this arena. Additionally, the Company is engaged at various levels with several other major U.S. companies in the healthcare, retail and utilities industries, which would solidify PIT as a leader in the 'B-to-B' broadcasting market for years to come.
The Pittsburgh Teleport facility consists of approximately forty satellite antennas operating in the C, Ku and Ka-bands along with fiber and microwave connectivity. Satellite coverage includes the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Fiber connectivity is to the primary Bell of Pennsylvania distribution center in Pittsburgh that provides for easy access to all inter-exchange carriers. The fact that PIT owns the property for which it sits, allows for more availability of fiber connections with the local exchange carrier, and relative ease for future expansion.
The teleport is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, and is identified as such in the Phillips Satellite Industry Directory. A teleport is defined as an entity with C-band, Ku-band and Ka-band uplinking and downlinking capability along with fiber and/or microwave connectivity. PIT has 214 certification from the FCC and can operate in the tariffed and private carrier environments. They operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with backup power and diverse transmission routes, and, they have outstanding engineering capabilities that permits it to custom design services for their clients. In addition, PIT has a proven track record as a high-quality service provider, as evidenced by over a decade of award-winning recognition by Loral Skynet. As a full-service communications provider, PIT touts strong relationships with current and prospective clients, a wealth of management experience, personalized service and solutions, and an investment of nearly $20 million dollars in communications licenses, physical plant and equipment.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

WILLIAM J. SCIOLLA, Director of Operations:
Mr. Sciolla has been with the Company since 1985 as an installer, technician and manager. He has extensive technical and management experience and was part of the team that designed and constructed the Company's main facility. For the past 15 years, he has managed the Company's video operations. In his current capacity, he is responsible for business development in addition to daily interaction with clients and the supervision of full time, occasional and transportable video services.

JEFFREY D. WATESKA, Director of Sales and Marketing:
Mr. Wateska was instrumental in the decision to enter the narrowcasting and ethnic broadcasting business and revenues have increased over 300% since his arrival. He began his career as Director of Sales with Brand Associates, Inc., an independent insurance agency, where he was responsible for Personal Lines and Life insurance sales. He founded American Tours, Inc., a student tour company, in 1989 and was responsible for the development from start-up to the largest student tour company in Pennsylvania. He joined Reliance Training Networks (RTN), a distance learning company specializing in healthcare training, in 1997 as Vice President - Satellite Operations. He was promoted to Executive Vice President - International Business and helped to establish RTN's international department. In 1999, he became Chief Operating Officer of RTN's Sports Education Network, the first direct-to-school satellite distance learning network to target coaches and student athletes. A sports enthusiast, he was the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator for the Hampton High School football team from 1981 - 1989 and from 1994 - 1996. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with B.S. degrees in Business Administration and Psychology.