Extra telephone lines are a must during eisteddfod week

The exchange will cater for the huge increase in demand for phone lines when the eisteddfod takes place in the village next month.

This will be the first time a mobile exchange has been used outside an emergency.

BT had designed the exchange so that any demand for phone lines during a crisis such as fires at main exchanges can be catered for.

The Meifod exchange would never have been able to cope with the massive demand during Eisteddfod week Stan Edwards, BT

The telephone company has now installed the exchange at the Meifod site in readiness for the week-long event which starts on 2 August.

The Meifod village exchange has only 600 lines but the annual celebration of Welsh culture attracts tens of thousands of performers and spectators all demanding additional lines.

Massive demand

BBC Wales alone uses at least 350 phone lines at every eisteddfod.

The mobile unit, which will use a radio link to connect to the BT network via the main exchange in Shrewsbury, has many times the capacity of the Meifod exchange.

The exchange will use a radio link to get calls in and out

"The Meifod exchange would never have been able to cope with the massive demand during eisteddfod week," said Stan Edwards, BT network solutions manager.

"it was quite a challenge because we also had to find a way to channel the thousands of calls made from the site every day back to the network and radio was the perfect solution.

Eisteddfod organiser, Hywel Wyn Edwards, said this was the first time that the National Eisteddfod had used the mobile exchange.

"This is a revolutionary new system which the company believes will be more effective than connecting to the Meifod or Welshpool exchange," he said.