MWC 2016: Nokia unveils FastMile to connect rural broadband

EWE TEL broadband network in Germany
Telecom network vendor Nokia today announced the launch of FastMile that provides home broadband connectivity in rural areas.

Nokia said FastMile offers data rates — 2.5-times the throughput and 12 times the coverage area of comparable mobile network for residential phone, TV and broadband connections using boosted LTE for the last mile to the home.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said that the broadband technology allows mobile operators to build on the existing macro radio networks and offers home broadband as an alternative carrier.

Advantages of FastMile

# Residential outdoor modem with self-tuning antenna provides up to 3.5X typical radius increase compared to standard mobile broadband network

# Residential indoor router with Wi-Fi / GigE provides end user broadband connectivity

# Fixed mobile RAN antenna topology combined with interference mitigation by Nokia’s scheduler delivers 2.5x throughput of comparable mobile network

# Smartphone applications to ease deployment and management

# Cloud-based controller running on Nokia AirFrame will monitor the network and ensure minimum guaranteed throughput for all users

In rural areas, mobile broadband networks may not reach all homes as the signal from the nearest LTE radio base station is often insufficient to provide sufficient throughput capacity indoors. The same locations are also typically lacking DSL or cable broadband coverage.

FastMile consists of home indoor router and outdoor antenna, smartphone applications, Radio Access Network (RAN) macro configuration (with small cell support) and cloud-based controller running on Nokia AirFrame for the network itself.

 

ITU says 20 percent households in developed countries and 66 percent households in developing countries do not have internet access, with more than 4 billion people from developing countries remaining offline.

[email protected]