As some of you may have found, our website has been down for the last few days. We are currently migrating to a new set of equipment, and our DNS has gone a little wonky. It should be fixed now, but will take several hours and up to a day to come back up fully.
Now, on to the good stuff..
I wanted to take the opportunity to say “Thank You” to the numerous friends and supporters we have across the world. Without people like you, our advocates, we likely would not be in the position we are in today. Each and every one of you bring something unique to the table, and I am grateful for all of the guidance and support I’ve received thus far from everyone.
So with that being said.. We’re going to start our own decentralized cellular telephone company. Not a Cricket Wireless, or a Tracfone type of provider who MVNO on another operators network.. but an actual real life regulated telephone company with actual real life assets in the United States.
First, a little background..
We have been looking at different wireless solutions that are easy to install and support a wide array of devices. Usually you’d do something like a Wi-Fi network and allow people to access data that way, but that isn’t very flexible and the range is usually pretty bad. As many of you know, LTE (otherwise known as 4G nowadays) is widely used around the world to connect many of us to the information we seek while on the go or away from a computer. With the help of SoC’s (System on a Chip) like the Snapdragon platform, today countless devices are able to use cellular data platforms easily and while on the go or at home.
But all of this wireless build out to support the growing need for mobile voice and data has led the operators into a sticky situation. That growing need comes with an associated cost that the major cellular providers are forced to shoulder, more cellular base stations attached to more large towers. I’m sure you’ve seen all of the new cellular equipment being installed all over your cities across the country, the demand for high speed mobile data is insatiable. Unfortunately, in the land of RF Engineering we are required to observe some rules that have to do with physics. One of those rules that governs RF systems is the Shannon-Hartley Theorem, or the Shannon Bound.
From Wikipedia:
In information theory, the Shannon–Hartley theorem tells the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted over a communications channel of a specified bandwidth in the presence of noise. It is an application of the noisy-channel coding theorem to the archetypal case of a continuous-time analog communications channel subject to Gaussian noise. The theorem establishes Shannon’s channel capacity for such a communication link, a bound on the maximum amount of error-free information per time unit that can be transmitted with a specified bandwidth in the presence of the noise interference, assuming that the signal power is bounded, and that the Gaussian noise process is characterized by a known power or power spectral density. The law is named after Claude Shannon and Ralph Hartley.
So basically what this means is that we can only supply a certain amount of bandwidth at a given frequency. So if you operate say, a lower frequency 700MHz mobile network, you will have amazing coverage but cannot support higher bandwidth operations as you’re operating in a lower frequency. This is a big reason why mobile providers have chosen to utilize several different bands of radio spectrum, from 700MHz to 2.4GHz. It is also the reason 5G is beginning to support applications like mmWave operating at a very high frequency of 60GHz for indoor applications, more cycles per second — more bandwidth.
This means that cellular providers only have a finite ability to provide bandwidth in a certain area. It’s a limitation of physics and the only thing you can do is add more infrastructure to address it. I’m sure you can guess that “adding more infrastructure” is probably more expensive than it sounds, with some cellular towers costings millions of dollars in time, permitting, and materials to build. This led the providers to push equipment vendors in another direction, Small Cells.
Small Cells are micro transmitters that can be placed closer to the user and augment bandwidth that is currently being consumed by users connecting to outside towers. They act the same in that they are an actual cellular phone site, what we call in LTE land an “eNodeB”. This is a big change in ideology, as operators traditionally have placed expensive industrial cell phone cabinets (or eNodeB’s) on building rooftops and at the bottom of towers for years now. They are now able to roll out more hardware into their markets, but have another issue: Money.
These Small Cells will begin showing up in major numbers starting in 2019, but really heating up in 2020 and 2021. Carriers such at AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have been looking into small cell architectures for a number of years and are very supportive of their use to augment their lack of radio spectrum (and money to buy more). Even Google ala Alphabet has taken a huge stance in the Small Cell market, via the CBRS Alliance.
So what is CBRS?
CBRS, or Citizens Band Radio Service, is a newly allocated 150 MHz band of spectrum released by the US Government for public use. It is different from unmanaged radio spectrum (2.4GHz or 5.8GHz ISM for Wi-Fi operation, as an example) in that it is managed by a local controller called a SAS or Spectrum Allocation Server. This is a perfect way to extend the power and portability of LTE based equipment, as the spectrum is generally usable locally to create your own LTE network.
That’s right.. I said, create your own LTE network.
So we looked at CBRS a lot, and as it turns out it’s set to be the newest and hottest access spectrum since LTE has come into play. It’s managed, and it allows exceptionally high transmit powers from transmitters giving us maximum range and throughput. Google is exceptionally interested and has dedicated a ton of time and money into the advocacy of this band being used by the public. In fact, they’re one of the key members of the CBRS Alliance and have led the fight to create a public band for general and commercial use. So in the future, the world will covered in these little small cell boxes that help take the strain off of the larger tower infrastructure. The applications and locations of these transmitters are endless, from hospitals and hotels to sports areas and festivals. The CBRS radio band has already made its way into the X20 LTE modem in Snapdragon 845 SoC’s meaning that the majority of todays newer phones and devices actually support it out of the box. It is also supported by Apple iPhone X, but is currently not software defined — although Verizon has made CBRS capability in handsets a requirement for their future handsets sold to customers.
Back to the whole regulated telephone company thing..
We realize that selling telephone services isn’t as simple as getting a couple of transmitters up and calling yourselves a phone company. There are quite a few licenses that are required, Federal and State level, in order to legally and properly provide wireless services commercially, no matter the frequency used. As we ventured our way down the path of becoming a regulated telephone company in Puerto Rico, it dawned on me that I was kind of missing the overall point of whats going on. We were looking to deploy a CBRS LTE network at some locations around Puerto Rico, but this is a nationally available band of spectrum and people could actually start some pretty profitable businesses with this. If this is one thing I’ve learned in my career, it’s you never know what people are going to do with your idea or creation.
The path to these certifications is difficult, and expensive. The core infrastructure required is absolutely insane. There are so many pieces and parts to an LTE network, the acronyms will boggle your mind. You need to be able to provide services like 9–1–1, you need to be able to process warrants for Law Enforcement when issued by a court, you need to be able to terminate voice calls with high availability. Just the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for our LTE network costs well into $100,000 just for the licensing and hardware.
But, seeing as we are in a time and age of decentralization.. Why not allow people across the United States to start up their own wireless businesses?
Imagine a small “island” of coverage in a remote town, or inside of a building. If you collect enough of these islands, they end up becoming an actual area of full coverage. That’s where we got the idea to name it — Isla Wireless.
Isla Wireless, a product of Astral9, aims to be the worlds first decentralized mobile telephone company program. We handle all of the billing systems, provisioning, and network infrastructures. All of the regulatory filings, the licenses for operation as a radio system, it’s all handled by us. We plan to rely on partners across the United States (and Territories) to help us build our network out, and we’re willing to share in the revenue the network generates.
In a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) wireless business model, the provider generally bulk buys minutes on a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) platform and resells them to customers as branded offerings. As I mentioned before, Cricket and Tracfone are two large MVNO’s who operate in this manner. But the reason why Cricket and Tracfone had to buy minutes on another platform is because they couldn’t afford to make a business out of wireless because of the associated costs in acquiring licensed radio spectrum (which can be billions of dollars in simply an area the size of Los Angeles) and building out infrastructure. We’re going to change that a little bit..
We’re going to allow operators, small and large, to roll out their own wireless networks where they believe they are best installed. We could spend the year scouting three locations, but a network of partners who know their specific geographical area and maintain relationships in the community seems like a much faster road to implementation. An operator will have a licensed radius (right now we’re offering 10 — 30 Mile Radius licenses to our Founders Club Partners) in which they can locate equipment. If they find a location, they contact us and we figure out what type of gear is best for the application (indoors, outdoors, etc) and send them the equipment. They install it (or pay a licensed contractor to do so), give the equipment power and an internet connection, and we do the rest. There is no configuration required, no special tools or equipment, just hang the antenna at the agreed location and we’re off to the races.
So who is an Operator? An Operator is someone who wants a business opportunity. You actually need to find locations, establish and foster relationships, and market our offering to the businesses and location owners you target. It could be your Great Uncle Harveys sports arena, or your local Homeowners Association.. any place that suffers from poor wireless reception (indoor or outdoor) can install our equipment and provide services across our network.
I’ve been asked several times now, how do the sites generate money?
As a licensed mobile operator, we are able to establish and maintain roaming agreements with major wireless carriers such at Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T to augment and supplement their mobile capacity. It may seem as we are competition, but in reality it is cheaper to pay us to provide the service than it would be to build out a large geographical area themselves. This is the business case for roaming revenue found on every major wireless platform that we use today.
But it doesn’t stop there.
IoT.. many of you have heard of the emerging industry referred to the “Internet of Things”, but what is it exactly?
Well, the major wireless carriers are investing millions of dollars into defining just that. They plan to offer a variety of wireless services to support the future of connectivity needs by devices, including:
- Telematics: Drones, Fleet Information, Connected Car and Smart Driving
- Smart Communities: Connected Lights, Sensors, and Camera systems
- Utility Companies: Grid Monitoring Services, Site Monitoring, SCADA
- Asset Management: Fleet Tracking, Trip Verification, Asset Monitoring
- Ag Tech: Smart Sensors in facilities, Farming Equipment, Site Monitoring
- Consumer: Drones, Digital Media Access, Wearables, Telephones
- Healthcare: Smart In Home Monitoring, Privacy/HIPAA, Medical Devices
As you can see, the countless applications and gizmos that you can think up all need one simple thing: connectivity. While Wi-Fi is a solution, it requires dynamic configuration and does not often support roaming across networks or out into the public. The answer is very clear, and its CBRS.
So while the roaming revenue coming from the carriers may generate money, we are creating a decentralized access network that will eventually support millions (or billions) of different devices across our network. Our LTE network is being built as a Neutral Host Core, meaning we support access to all major wireless carriers as the result of our roaming agreements as well as support additional customers for their data needs as well. By participating in a larger network, our site Operators have a higher chance of generating income passively from devices that previously would not have used a cellular network technology.
Still yet, Operators have complete freedom to sell service packages on their Isla and utilize infrastructure to provide services. For example, if an Operator were to install equipment into an office building they would be able to sell data service inside of the building to customers and benefit from the revenue. We handle all the billing, account servicing via our customer service center, everything. Just sell the service, and we’ll connect the dots.
We will be ready to roll in mid-late October, and will start beta testing with our partner operators around the same time frame. If you’re interested in participating as an Operator as part of our Founders Club, send us a note and we’ll get you the information as well as an introduction.
Some last notes to quell some questions before I sign off..
Are you changing your plan as a company?
Nope, it’s business as usual at Astral9. We’re working hard to do exactly what we set out to do: Monetize Wireless Networks. LTE is simply a stepping stone into getting us established as a network provider so we can leverage our forthcoming hardware solutions appropriately.
What’s going on with XA9, your token?
XA9 is still available on the Stellar Decentralized Exchange, as well through other popular Stellar based front ends. XA9 will be used by customers to interact with services and vendors via our online portal that will be accessible over all of the wireless networks we own and operate, not just Isla Wireless.
Is this going over Satellite?
No, Isla Wireless utilizes localized antennas and radio spectrum to create an on-ground LTE wireless network that is accessible through any 3GPP compatible device supporting CBRS.
How much will a license be for Operators?
Founders Club Operators will receive a discounted license for their area but should expect no less than $30,000 USD as an initial fee to license our minimum 30 mile radius area. This grants the Operator exclusive rights to all operations and revenue share of sites located within that zone they place.
Do I own the equipment?
No, Astral9 owns all equipment associated with network access located at Operators locations. There is a network service fee that is levied on each site in the amount of 10% of the purchase price of the transmitter, to be paid until the equipment is paid off after which time the Operator no longer responsible for rental of the unit.
How do the sites get their connection to the Internet?
Good question, that’s totally up to the site Operator! We supply all equipment and back end systems that enable the system, the only responsibility of the Operator is to supply power and a high speed internet connection. This can be any internet connection, from a cable modem to high speed fiber optic. If you can reach a website from the connection, our equipment will work!
What happens if the site goes offline, do you guys come and fix it?
Nope! You’re a site operator, and part of that responsibility is having a high degree of network uptime. We have a decentralized Network Operations Center (NOC) that we are opening for 24x7x365 monitoring of customer and Astral9 Isla sites. If your site goes down, our NOC technicians see the alarm and contact registered site agent to notify them of an outage Nationwide. Once they receive the notification, they are expected to respond to it appropriately and in a timely manner. The more uptime, the better service and offload we can provide to our customers.
How can I pay for a license? How long do they last for?
An Isla license lasts for 12 months from the date of your first license execution date. You may pay with any major crypto currency (including XA9), with a cashiers check, or wire transfer. The license is transferrable ONE time, so if you decide to sell your Isla you are able to offer it on our Isla marketplace for other operators to purchase from you at auction or to the entity of your choosing.
Well, it’s been a long spring and summer but I am exceptionally happy with where we are at. We’ve dodged rogue agents in Puerto Rico, witches of crypto currency, and some blockchain derelicts. Some days are better than others, but at the end of every day I am thankful to be able to live in a time such as the time we live in today. Even twenty years ago it was a pipe dream to be able to access high speed data over a phone, I can’t imagine where the next twenty will take us.
It is my job to work for you, our customers, to provide the highest level of service and technology that is available today (and tomorrow). If crypto currency is to be legitimate in the future, we need to build the platforms of transaction to support that vision.
This, is the beginning of one. And I hope you’ll support us for that.
In the words of the late great Biggie Smalls..
It was all a dream..
I’ll try to write blog postings more, and force a couple of people working with us to contribute them as well.
//warren
