Gateway Communications and Altobridges’ combined remote community satellite solution, African Cell Direct/Altobridge lite-sit, were presented with the Best Wholesale Service Innovation award at the recent 2011 Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards.
The Awards are designed to honour innovative projects involving telecoms operators and service providers around the world working in association with their vendors and suppliers.
Gateway Communications, one of the largest providers of carrier solutions in Africa and Altobridge, a leading supplier of 2G/3G solutions for remote communities, recently entered into a joint initiative offering mobile network operators across Africa the delivery of cost-effective, green-powered remote community mobile communications.
The Altobridge lite-site is a satellite-backhauled, solar-powered voice and data solution while Gateway Communications’ CellDirect uses Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) technology to allocate satellite capacity based on time, frequency and availability.
The core benefits of the partnership include reduced total cost of ownership for mobile network operators, minimum satellite bandwidth usage and cost, macro quality voice and data services, shorter ROI periods and immediate widespread service reach.
“Fibre provides capacity but satellite offers reliability, reach, and the ability for operators to serve Africa’s most rural and land-locked areas,” says Mike van den Bergh, CEO, Gateway Communications.
“In many emerging markets it is not uncommon to find instances where one or two handsets are shared between 500 or more users, or where villagers hike miles across country just to make a single call.
The combined Gateway Communications / Altobridge solution removes these hardships by enabling mobile network operators to bring mobile connectivity to thousands of individuals.
“Green power also provides a clean, reliable service, while the excess solar-power generated can be used to provide free-of-charge handset charging facilities or wider community power-based initiatives such as home lamp power or household batteries,” Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of Altobridge.
By: Staff Writer
