from K-NET in 10 Rural Communities in Ghana
K-NET Limited, one of Ghana’s leading network solutions provider operating throughout Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa brings first-time mobile voice and data connectivity to rural communities
ACCRA, Ghana, November 21, 2012/ -- Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Communications, today inaugurated 10 mobile communication towers in rural areas in Ghana, built by K-NET Ltd (http://www.knetgh.com) and providing service on the Tigo network. Speaking at one of the sites in Botoku in the Volta Region, Mr. Iddrisu commended both K-NET and Tigo for their initiative, together with the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) who funded the project. Mr.Iddrisu also said that he expected that the advent of these facilities in the rural areas will attract investors and open up more business opportunities and enhance teaching and learning in schools.
Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/k-net.jpg
K-NET Limited, one of Ghana’s leading network solutions provider operating throughout Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa, together with strategic partners Altobridge, Ameresco Solar, iDirect and Tigo, is bringing first-time mobile voice and data connectivity to rural communities in Ghana and beyond. K-NET and its partners have developed a highly innovative solution which is optimised for rural applications and reduces the total costs of ownership by up to 65% compared to a conventional solution, meaning that rural communities with relatively low population densities of less than 1,500 people may now be served profitably by the mobile network operators. Each communication tower can serve an area of up to 300 Km2, potentially covering several townships. Currently 143,000Km2 (60%) of the land area and 5 million of the population (20%) of Ghana have no mobile coverage.
The 10 rural communication towers implemented to date by K-NET have experienced substantial levels of traffic and very strong growth of more than 25% since the last one was completed at the end of July 2012. Some of the towers are now carrying more than 250,000 minutes of voice traffic each month, and more than 15,000 SMS messages.
The K-NET- led partnership to develop the low-cost solution includes the provision of a 2G or 3G Base Station Subsystem by Altobridge, the provision of a Solar Power Solution by Ameresco Solar, the provision of satellite communication equipment by iDirect, together with the mobile network operator Tigo. In addition to the turnkey system integration, K-NET uses its state-of-the-art Teleport at McCarthy Hill in Accra to provide the communication links between each remote site and the central switching network of the mobile operator, Tigo. K-NET provides the network management and the operations and maintenance services for the network. The advanced BSS equipment from Altobridge optimises capacity for the rural environment and reduces power consumption to less than one twentieth (5%) of a conventional implementation. This enables a highly-efficient solar-based power system from Ameresco Solar to be used, which offers substantially lower running costs than a conventional power system with diesel generator backup.
Speaking at the inauguration in Botoku, Mr. Michael Darcy, CEO of K-NET said, “K-NET is proud to be working with GIFEC, Tigo and its other partners to bring mobile services to rural communities such as Botoku, to enrich the quality of life for individuals and to enable small businesses to operate more efficiently.”
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of K-NET Ltd.
About K-NET
K-NET (http://www.knetgh.com) is an international telecommunications provider headquartered in Accra. K-NETspecialises in the provision of highly-secure and highly-reliable B2B network services for government, large corporate and small/medium enterprise clients. K-NET’s main Network Operation Centre (NOC) and Teleport are located at McCarthy Hill in Accra, which has diverse connections to multiple international POPs. K-NET provides last-mile connectivity to customer locations based on one of several access technologies, including fibre, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint microwave, WiMAX and VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) broadband satellite communications. The state-of-the-art McCarthy Hill Teleport, with capacity on the SES Astra 2B satellite, provides ubiquitous coverage over all West and Central Africa.K-NET also provides Ghana’s main TV uplink facility from its McCarthy Hill teleport, providing services for 20 TV channels, both Direct To Home (DTH) and contribution feeds for terrestrial broadcast channels.
For further information on K-NET and MRIID, please contact:
Mary Mensah, Marketing and Communications, K-NET
+233 -302-769306
About Altobridge
Altobridge is a privately held company headquartered in Ireland and has further bases in USA, China and Malaysia. Shareholders include its employees, Intel Capital, IFC and Enterprise Ireland.Altobridge wireless network solutions reduce network operating costs in the delivery of mobile voice and mobile broadband services. Central to this lie a series of patented and patent-pending technologies namely; Altobridge Data-at-the-Edge™ (broadband data optimization in wireless networks), Local Connectivity™ (local voice switching) and Split Architecture™ (transmission and power optimization), all of which, individually and combined, drive down communications delivery costs for mobile network operators by reducing backhaul and power consumption costs.
For further information on Altobridge, please contact:
Peter Tuomey, VP Marketing, Altobridge
Tel: +44 7765 665 045
http://www.altobridge.com
About iDirect
iDirect, a subsidiary of VT Systems, is a global leader in IP-based satellite communications providing technology that enables its 350+ partners to optimize their networks, differentiate and expand their businesses. The iDirect Intelligent Platform™ allows partners to run their entire business operations more efficiently via single, unified IP-based satellite architecture, whether it’s providing core IP applications to the enterprise or specialized services to any number of diverse vertical markets. iDirect is the #1 name in global satellite communications in key industries including maritime, military/government, and oil and gas, with a 62% hub market share and more than a quarter million remotes installed worldwide.
For more information please visit:
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