By Telecom Lead Team: AfriConnect Zambia, an
Internet solutions provider in the Vodacom Group of companies, has selected
Airspan 4G equipment to deliver broadband services in Lusaka and
other major cities in Zambia.
AfriConnect offers wireless-based Internet solutions
throughout Zambia that are resilient to the environments in which they are
deployed and quick and easy to install.
The company will now be able to better serve these
markets with advanced 4G connectivity powered by Airspan
infrastructure.
Operating in the 2.5 GHz band, the deployment employs
Airspan’s Air4G compact, macro base station. The first phase of the
project includes several thousand subscriber terminals to be deployed in the
capital, Lusaka, and is expected to expand coverage into additional towns and
cities.
“There is a lot of new international fibre optic
capacity coming into Zambia at present, and we knew we needed a means to get
this additional bandwidth out to our clients. We conducted extensive testing
with several vendors and subsequently selected Airspan, whose products
demonstrated superior technology and the best results in our environment,” said
Mark Bennett, managing director of AfriConnect.
Zambia gained a reputation for having slow connectivity,
but that is changing rapidly. AfriConnect is bringing affordable and dependable
broadband connectivity to the Zambian community.
“Innovative service providers like AfriConnect are
rapidly growing their businesses to expand connectivity throughout the
typically underserved regions of Zambia. AfriConnect uniquely leverages its
local presence and the Airspan powered 4G network will help take its customer
offering to the next level,” said Amit Ancikovsky, president of Products and
Sales at Airspan.
Airspan products provide 4G WiMAX and LTE solutions
operating in the 700 MHz up to 5.9 GHz bands.
Last
year, Airspan Networks announced that it has been chosen by Salzburg Austria, with
integrator partner Zehetner Elektronik, for a Smart Grid 4G deployment in
Salzburg, Austria.
