Welcome to this week’s news on Wi-Fi, DAS, and small cell deployments.
In macrocell news this week, CommScope and international telecom company Ooredoo said that they are partnering on a new design and production method for tower tops, producing what they believe is the industry’s “first factory-assembled tower tops for base station remote radios, which are pre-assembled according to a single global design standard.”
Traditionally, infrastructure had to be assembled on-site and there was no single design, making upgrades complicated and costly. The pre-assembled and pre-tested tower tops are designed to be radio vendor agnostic and reduce installation time – by about 50%, according to the companies – and electricity consumption while providing greater network capacity.
“Working with CommScope to develop a new tower top solution that is assembled in a factory will enable us to deliver a distinctly different approach to building and operating a wireless network,” said Paul Salmon, group CTO for Ooredoo. “We believe this is a first for our industry, and it is a source of considerable pride that it was designed and developed within the region to serve our customers.”
Ooredoo will be using the new design as its standard for cell sites as it replaces or upgrades about 15,000 base stations over the coming years in its markets across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.
Large sporting events and venues are proving to be fertile ground for hetnet companies, both to beef up capacity for consumers, and to provide connectivity for related activities – such as public safety. Firetide said that during the recent NCAA Final Four tournament in Atlanta, its mesh network equipment – with design and deployment by systems integrator Avrio RMS Group – was used by the city’s police department for live video feeds so that the department could monitor the surroundings of multiple venues for accidents, traffic problems and crime.
Atlanta’s network uses Firetide’s wireless infrastructure mesh nodes and Sony video cameras which are monitored in real-time from the police department’s Video Integration Center. The network consisted of 72 of Firetide’s mesh nodes deployed last year for video traffic control, and expanded in preparation for the NCAA tournament to include another 68 nodes and a combination of 65 fixed and controllable video cameras.
Meanwhile, Boingo Wireless said that it turned on a new Wi-Fi network at Dallas Love Field airport, as part of upgrades to the north concourse. The company said that a new, multi-carrier DAS installation is also in the works for the terminal. Boingo just signed an international roaming agreement with AT&T recently; its other roaming and platform service providers include Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Skype and NTT DoCoMo.
Colorado-based radio head manufacturer XetaWave said that an unnamed major oil company will be using its radios for wireless connectivity in the Bakken Shale oil fields in Montana and North Dakota. The network will consist of three separate overlays for mobile Internet access, facilities management, and well-head communications at 15,000 sites. XetaWave said it currently makes about 150 radios a week and will quadruple that figure over the next few months to support the deployment. Installation is already underway and expected to be complete by 2015.
NetGear is launching a new home wireless router that supports 802.11ac connectivity for about $170. NetGear’s R6250 is now available from major retailers; the company said this router is “designed for customers who want the best possible 802.11ac Wi-Fi performance, but don’t feel the need to have the fastest 802.11n WiFi performance in the 2.4 Ghz band.” It also touted the router as “ideal for HD streaming to multiple devices,” including smartphones.
Gogo, which provides satellite-based Wi-Fi connectivity on-board aircraft, has nearly doubled the amount of existing credit line to finance global expansion and continuing operations. The company announced that a $135 million credit facility arranged by Morgan Stanley and J.P. Moran was increased by $113 million. Gogo recently announced that it was chosen to install its air-to-ground product on more than 400 aircraft across multiple airlines.
Fixed and mobile satellite provider ViaSat has acquired LonoCloud, which is an early-stage company specializing in cloud networking software. ViaSat said it plans to integrate core components of the LonoCloud platform as a platform as a service. LonoCloud is privately held and financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; LonoCloud employees will join ViaSat.
