NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Parallel Wireless today announced that EE, the UK’s largest mobile operator, has chosen the Parallel Wireless rural micro network solution for their rural wireless 4G rollout. This rollout will bring both voice and data services to more than 1,500 communities across the UK, and the technology can enable coverage in every hard to reach home, road, and village in the country. The innovative 4G wireless solution from Parallel Wireless brings 3G voice and data, and superfast 4G wireless broadband to underserved communities.
The rural micro network solution from Parallel Wireless does not rely on any wired broadband, and can connect communities of around 100 homes with just three or four base stations. The first community to be connected through trials of the new micro network technology is the small village of Sebergham, in Cumbria. Sebergham has 129 dwellings and 347 residents, and sits in a deep valley.
Mansoor Hanif, Director Radio Access Networks and programs at EE, said: “We are determined to serve areas of the UK that have been considered unreachable for both mobile and fixed broadband coverage. We have worked closely with the team at Parallel Wireless and we believe that the solution they have designed and that we have trialed together can change the economics of providing mobile voice and data coverage. The innovative capabilities remove significant obstacles to rural coverage and uniquely enable us to connect areas for the first time with both reliable voice services and our 4G wireless broadband. Our team is extremely passionate about building the best network to serve our customers wherever they may be and we are proud to be the first to partner with Parallel Wireless who share our goals.”
The Parallel Wireless team has experience building every component of the cellular network through its evolution from 2G, 3G to 4G. For the past three years, this team has been reimagining the architecture of the cellular radio access network (RAN) to address challenges created by HetNets and the evolution to 5G. The initial commercially available products are the LTE Access Controller (LAC) and Converged Wireless System (CWS). Together, these make deploying and maintaining LTE networks as easy and as cost-effective as Wi-Fi networks. EE is the first service provider worldwide to deploy these new network elements.
LTE Access Controller (LAC) is the industry’s first carrier-grade, high-performance NFV- and SDN-based network orchestrator that is 100% compliant with all standard 3GPP interfaces. LAC virtualizes the RAN interfaces to manage all LTE RAN configurations in real-time while abstracting RAN changes from the packet core network and packet core network changes from the RAN. This solution uses standard backhaul and orchestrates a resilient mesh across the various backhaul elements. The currently released LAC supports X2 gateway, real-time SON server, edge/cell site aggregation router, mesh router, small cell gateway/HeNBGW, security GW, MOCN, and Wi-Fi handoff controller.
Converged Wireless System (CWS) is an integrated solution comprised of access radios and resilient mesh backhaul radios in a single compact enclosure. Available in multiple form factors, including outdoor and in-vehicle, the CWS delivers instant, reliable, and cost-effective coverage anywhere. The nodes are self-configured and self-managed via the Parallel Wireless LTE Access Controller and can be deployed easily. LAC-enabled orchestration provides hands-free maintenance of CWS base stations with SON-based interference mitigation for access and backhaul, SON-controlled dynamic RF power adjustment, and software-defined radio (SDR) capabilities that enable future proof for additional bands or band reconfigurations.
Simon Mellor, GM, EMEA, Parallel Wireless, Inc., said: “Parallel Wireless’ LAC and CWS work together to reimagine LTE RAN architectures that make possible the deployment of a fully-functioning LTE and 3G network in hours. We are delighted to be partners in innovation with EE to quickly and efficiently launch new, mobile services that will benefit rural customers across the UK.”
Supporting Photos/Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itS4fo_a7D0&feature=youtu.be
Supporting Resources
ee.co.uk
www.parallelwireless.com
Keywords/tags
Parallel Wireless, EE, rural wireless coverage, LTE Access Controller, Converged Wireless System, wireless backhaul, C-RAN
About Parallel Wireless
Parallel Wireless is reimagining the cellular RAN as the only provider of wide-area distributed C-RAN using 100% interoperable 3GPP interfaces and traditional backhaul technologies. Our innovative solutions, based on our innovative LTE Access Controller, pave the way to the future of advanced 5G HetNet orchestration. Parallel Wireless’ worldwide headquarters are located in Nashua New Hampshire, with Sales offices in Asia and EMEA, and Research Center in India.
