The 5,000 delegates, 15,000 journalists and many others coming to the Republican National Convention – plus their phones, cameras and computers – will require a lot of bandwidth, so the convention and Bright House Networks Wednesday announced efforts to beef up the data network at the convention site.

Bright House, the convention’s exclusive provider of video, high-speed data and landline voice services, plans to expand its fiber infrastructure around the Tampa Bay Times Forum and the Tampa Convention Center, which will serve as the working media hub for the convention.

In its capacity as the official vendor of telecommunications services, Bright House will offer news companies working the convention a range of video and communications options, including dedicated access Internet service starting at 10 megabits per second (Mbps) to one gigabit per second (Gbps) as well as metro Ethernet. A product and rate guide that Bright House distributed at a media walk-through in December “guaranteed bandwidth to meet heavy demand.” Convention rates for dedicated Internet access range from $1,015 for the 10 Mbps package to $37,500 for the 1 Gbps service. Ethernet rates range from $3,500 to $5,100.

Convention chief executive officer William Harris said the partnership with Bright House will be instrumental in helping delegates and journalists communicate “seamlessly” during the convention, scheduled for Aug. 27-30 at the forum.

“The company is committed to the Tampa Bay area, and it has one of the most advanced fiber optic networks available in the industry,” Harris said in a prepared statement.