Tanzania: CableFree Solves African Rural Broadband

CableFree MIMO Radios have been deployed in Tanzania by partner Msoft to connect “last mile” applications, providing much needed connectivity infrastructure in rural Africa.

In these solutions, CableFree MIMO Radios have been deployed in Point to Point wireless network configuration with high gain antennas, capable of covering long distances at low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).   The radios are far lower cost than competing solutions such as fibre and cabled solutions, which require slow and costly digging, and can be easily disrupted.

Easy and Fast to Install

CableFree radios are quick to deploy and can be mounted on towers, poles, buildings and other suitable structures.    The radios can typically be installed within a single day, enabling customers to be online fast and without delay.  The radios are easy to protect and defend against accidental damage or equipment theft, and are typically mounted high up on structures that are owned by the customer or telecom operator.

Rugged and Reliable Solution

CableFree Radios feature high quality construction with metal cases, weatherproof against extremes of weather including Heat, Cold, Rain, Snow, Ice, Dust and Sand.  Once installed, the radios generally do not require any maintenance or intervention, as a “fit and forget” solution.  The radio performance can  be easily monitored using a convenient web-based interface or graphic user interface tool.

Benefits of the Solution

CableFree MIMO radios offer high capacities up to 867Mbps (550Mbps net), with low latency of typically 1ms or below per “hop”.  The connection is private, dedicated and uncontended – not shared with other users.  Once installed, there are no capacity charges, data caps or usage limitations.  This compares favourable to satellite solutions which are high latency, shared media, expensive per megabyte, and often feature capacity or bandwidth caps.

Licensed vs Unlicensed Radios

MIMO radios are often implemented using unlicensed 5GHz spectrum which in rural locations is clean and uncontended, offering dedicated performance and no interference.  This compares to urban areas where such frequencies can be congested.  The use of high gain directional antennas, best-in-class radio chipsets and advanced software features ensures best performance even in the face of moderate interference.  Alternatively, CableFree also support radios for licensed band operation.

Product Data

Available on the CableFree website at www.cablefree.net/mimo