Cambium Networks, a global provider of wireless broadband solutions, has announced that Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) HeroTel has chosen its ePMP Elevate solution to improve network performance and enable scalability. HeroTel is the largest wireless internet service provider in South Africa.
Founded in 2013, HeroTel is consolidating the Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) market and connecting South Africans to high-speed wireless, fiber and LTE internet. HeroTel currently has more than 2,000 sites and 45,000+ clients for last-mile internet service; however, demand for TV streaming services like Netflix and Showmax has exploded in South Africa. Traditional lastmile mediums like copper are unable to meet capacity demand, and fiber is limited to deployment in isolated pockets due to its deployment costs. Hero Tel needed a solution to meet the increasing demand for connectivity and streaming video to maintain and grow their customer base; and ideally leverage their installed infrastructure to optimize return on capital.
“What really excites me about our partnership with Cambium Networks is that we are able to dramatically improve the quality of experience for our customers, while at the same time improving our own ROI,” said Corné de Villiers, HeroTel’s CEO.
“Demand for TV streaming services like Netflix and Showmax has recently exploded in South Africa,” said Rich Henn, chief commercial officer at HeroTel. “Traditional last-mile mediums like copper can’t keep up, and fiber is limited to deployment in isolated pockets. With Cambium Networks’ solutions we are able to deliver high-speed wireless services to all of our clients, regardless of whether they are located in urban or rural areas.”
“Cambium Networks provides a wireless fabric of end-to-end connectivity solutions,” said Martin de la Serna, Vice President of Sales for Cambium Networks. “HeroTel has deployed our point-to-point licensed microwave backhaul solutions, PMP 450m wireless distribution networks, cnPilot 802.11ac Wi-Fi access solutions, and is now extending connectivity and coverage with ePMP Elevate™ and cnMaestro™ end-to-end management.”
“ePMP Elevate interoperates with previously installed customer premise equipment (CPE) by changing the Access Point at the head end and applying an over-the-air firmware upgrade to the CPE ,” said Sakid Ahmed, Vice President of ePMP Business. “The ePMP 2000 Access Point brings key technologies such as GPS Synchronization, frequency re-use, intelligent filtering, air fairness scheduling, and smart beamforming to an existing 802.11n-based network. This completely transforms network performance.”
After evaluating alternatives, HeroTel chose Cambium Networks’ ePMP™ point-to-multipoint wireless broadband distribution solution to improve network performance and enable scalability. One of the key influences to HeroTel’s decision was the ability of ePMP to gracefully integrate with and migrate HeroTel’s legacy network to ePMP performance levels using ePMP Elevate. HeroTel is now achieving over three times the speed and more than double the number of subscribers per sector with Cambium Networks’ ePMP 2000 solution than they achieved in the past. Because of this, they are able to offer 40 Mbps service level agreements; handle peak traffic volumes; meet the spike in demand during the evening hours driven primarily by Netflix; while simultaneously lowering the capital expense they anticipated in migrating to their next generation network.
“Cambium Networks has really delivered on their promises,” commented James Devine, head of HeroTel Networks. “Our field testing is showing excellent results. The throughput and density per sector are better than what we thought we might achieve, and their solution manages the interference beautifully.”
“Our field testing has returned impressive results,” added Gerrit Pretorius, Regional Head of RF Planning and Spectrum Management at HeroTel East. “We are able to load more than three times the number of client devices onto the Cambium Networks ePMP 2000 sectors, while achieving in excess of three and a half times the throughput speed on the client side. This solution will enable us to offer 30 Mbps+ services to our clients – which is exactly what company executives are requesting from our engineering team.”
