LTE Fixed Wireless Reaches Out to Saskatchewan Rural Communities
In late 2017, SaskTel declared their intention to invest around $4 million in upgrading a total of 35 wireless towers in the rural areas of Saskatchewan.
This is in a bid to provide access to high-speed internet connections along with reliable cellular services. According to SaskTel’s Dustin Duncan “This most recent round of wireless upgrades from SaskTel will greatly benefit a number of residents, farms, and businesses who call rural Saskatchewan home.”
SaskTel is not alone, Horizon Communications, launching LTE Fixed Wireless 1st in the Caribbean, aims to bring not only fixed wireless technology to the communities who are lacking good internet service, but leverages the power of blockchain technology to further leverage advantages over existing services.
In May this year, SaskTel said they would invest an additional $301 million to improve and maintain the communication technology services. While $61.2m of the total amount will be invested in the Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) program, $26.5 of the amount will be used in improving the 4G LTE network.
What motivated the move to wireless network provision?
The decision to invest in wireless connectivity was prompted by the shift in preference from wired to wireless connections. Case in point is the decrease in the use of landline telephones by approximately 6.91% annually, while total expenses on wireless phones increased by an average of about 6.73% every year, between 2011 and 2015. Between 2015 and 2016, returns from wired telephone connections increased by only 0.4% while those of their wireless counterparts were a whopping 3.2%.
How will the expansion be achieved?
In December last year, the Saskatchewan Government rolled out the four-phase plan to extend the wireless connection to the rural areas. According to Brad Wall a former Saskatchewan Premier, “Providing rural areas of our province with world-class communications services continues to be a priority for our government. Having access to the latest technology is critical to Saskatchewan’s ability to compete and prosper in the national global economics.”
This plan is divided into four phases with SaskTel invested a total of $4.2 million to set up High-Speed Fusion Internet network to about 34 rural locations within the province. This phase has already been completed with the towers having been set up in areas such as Aberdeen, Allan, Dundurn, Marshall, among others.
The second phase of this initiative will be the distribution of small cell site solutions to 100 rural communities. These solutions will improve the communities’ cellular operations. In July this year, SaskTel announced the flagging off of this second phase where the solution will be dispatched to the first batch of around 43 communities including Morse, Briercrest, Mottach, and others.
During the announcement, Michelle Englot, SaskTel’s External Communications Director explained that “What we’re looking at doing is adding our 4G LTE cellular services in 43 rural communities throughout rural Saskatchewan. This will be done by the construction of a small, cell site tower in each of these locations.”
These phases will see SaskTel working with stakeholders and partners to increase the opportunities that will result in the expansion of rural wireless services. By working with municipalities and local authorities, SaskTel will formulate a suitable wireless connectivity expansion plan
SaskTel estimates that the second phase of this plan will be completed in 2010. Phase 3 and 4 will work concurrently with the second phase.
With the large leaps in technical capabilities that are happening in the fixed wireless field, it’s becoming obvious that companies looking to provide high speed internet service will leap over the cost of deploying landline coax or fiber services and go straight to wireless solutions.
Gilbert A Darrell is the Founder of Horizon. He has 18 years experience in information technology and telecom solutions, a veteran in Fire and EMS Services, a crypto enthusiast and a member of the Bermuda Government’s Cryptocurrency Task Force.
Horizon Communications is an upcoming fixed wireless internet and cellular service provider looking to provide services in Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Central America before expanding internationally.
While utilizing 4th generation and soon 5th generation wireless technology, it will also heavily incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, one of the 1st ISP’s in the world to do so and the 1st to tokenize their services using an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
More information can be found on their website — www.HorizonComm.co
