NuRAN Wireless, a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless solutions, has been selected by Rhizomatica to connect Mexico’s rural communities.
Rhizomatica is a non-profit organization based in Oaxaca, Mexico, whose mission is to enable access to mobile telecommunications for the over 2 billion people without affordable coverage and the 700 million with none at all. To this end, the organization thoroughly investigated ways to bring mobile connectivity to low-density, low-income, rural areas.
After conducting trials with several radio access equipment vendors, Rhizomatica selected NuRAN Wireless’s LiteCell, a small, inexpensive, low power consumption GSM basestation that can be commissioned as easily as a WiFi router. Rhizomatica uses the LiteCell units with small-scale, open source instantiations of a GSM core network, leveraging VOIP as the means for conveying calls outside of the village network.
It’s a breakthrough in mobile communication infrastructure, costing only a fraction of traditional systems. A monthly subscriber fee of $3 is typically sufficient to cover operating expenses, recovering equipment costs in less than two years. It is also well adapted to off-grid deployments, where a 10 kilometer radius cell can be powered by a single solar panel.
“We have decided to use LiteCell based on the low cost and proven reliability in the field. Our goal is to provide cellular service at the lowest cost possible to the users, and NuRAN’s LiteCell helps us achieve exactly this.” -Peter Bloom. General Coordinator of Rhizomatica
“We are excited that our LiteCell was selected by Rhizomatica as the access solution to provide communications to rural communities of Mexico. With these village networks, the organization is demonstrating that new segments of demographics can be serviced with mobile communications in a sustainable manner” – Maxime Dumas, Head of Strategy and Business Development at NuRAN Wireless.
The first phase of deployment will be in Oaxaca this summer. Rhizomatica has been granted cellular spectrum from Mexico’s IFETEL, who aim to put the legislative conditions in place to connect isolated communities across the whole country.
About NuRAN Wireless
NuRAN Wireless, member of the WhiteSpace Alliance which promotes development, deployment and usage of standards-based products and services to provide broadband capabilities via WhiteSpace spectrum, is a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless solutions.
Their innovative GSM, LTE, and TVWS RAN products dramatically drop total cost of ownership, creating new opportunities for mobile network operators and ISPs. Indoor coverage, rural & isolated communities, offshore platforms and ships, NuRAN Wireless reaches everyone, everywhere.
www.nuranwireless.com
About Rhizomatica
Rhizomatica is a non-profit organization that has been working since 2010 to find innovative solutions to rural connectivity issues. They are recognized as the promoters of the world’s first truly community-managed and owned GSM networks, in Oaxaca, Mexico.
