Reaching Remote Africa with Viable Community Communications

Satellite backhaul costs cut dramatically using combination of Local Connectivity and Split-BSC Architecture

Cape Town, 18 November 2008 – Altobridge, the leading provider of telecommunications solutions that cut the cost of communications to, from and between wireless devices, will be at the AfricaCom event in Cape Town from 18-19 November (Stand A17) showcasing its Remote Community Solution. This combines the company’s Split-BSC Architecture, proven in numerous operational applications, with its Local Connectivity Platform, now licensed to leading wireless telecom vendors.

The combined Remote Community Solution has major cost-cutting implications for any mobile carrier attempting to deliver voice and data services to small enterprise and domestic communities in remote regions of Africa, and is one of the strongest value propositions for operators throughout the region at a time of global financial instability.

At the conference, Janne Hazell, Altobridge’s VP Wireless Solutions, will be presenting a paper: “Delivering Cost-Effective Wireless Communications in Remote Parts of Africa”, on Wednesday, 19 November, at 14.40hrs. The paper will address:

• The specific challenges of serving remote communities in Africa
• Developing cost-effective solutions for varied requirements
• Local Connectivity for reducing backhaul costs
• Case studies of specific projects in remote communities.

The Local Connectivity element of the Remote Community solution removes unnecessary transmission costs, which are typically incurred when local calls are backhauled across the core network. By keeping local calls local, backhaul bandwidth remains free and costs are eliminated.

The Altobridge Split-BSC Architecture simultaneously frees up vital capacity by establishing ‘On-Demand’ instead of ‘Always-On’ operations, (based on Demand Assigned Multiple Access - DAMA), which restricts the use of expensive satellite bandwidth to times when only revenue-generating traffic is occurring and enables further savings of up to 50% on VSAT backhaul. This solution has demonstrated the lowest satellite bandwidth requirements of any  system, being between 5 kbits/s and 8 kbits/s per call.

Altobridge’s Janne Hazell, said, “For communities across Africa with populations between 50 and 500 people, our Remote Communities solution is the most operationally efficient system of its kind and gives operators the chance of delivering much needed services, profitably, to both domestic and enterprise groups. Operator will be able to make annual savings per site potentially running into tens of thousands of dollars.

Altobridge is currently working with operators in other parts of the world (Maxis in Malaysia, and MobiCom in Mongolia), to deliver cost-effective rural communications to small, isolated public and enterprise populations.

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