WBA OpenRoaming to Power Digital Inclusion Across Remote Australia

Some of Australia’s most remote and marginalized communities will gain access to lifechanging avenues of online healthcare, education, and secure communications, with the arrival of a public Wi-Fi network with the seamless, high-speed connectivity of OpenRoaming™.

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the global industry body dedicated to improving Wi-Fi standards and services, today announced the launch of a breakthrough OpenRoaming deployment in five remote Central Australian communities and 11 ‘town camps’ in Alice Springs – providing hundreds of residents with free, secure Internet access through Easyweb Digital’s solar-powered Community Wi-Fi Hubs.

The deployment will provide the largely Indigenous residents with seamless switching between a growing number of Easyweb networks that support OpenRoaming in towns and community centers across Central Australia. A powerful combination of OpenRoaming, Wi-Fi, and Geostationary and Low Earth Orbit satellite backhaul will provide unprecedented redundancy and reliability in a region long characterised by poor communications and devastating social disadvantage.

Each of the autonomous assets deployed in the project will be powered by a standalone solar headend, and ‘weather-proofed’ against the extreme desert environment. The OpenRoaming network will offer seamless ‘cellular-like’ access to broadband speeds of up to 300 Mbps, while the system’s advanced redundancy will prioritize low-latency Voice over Wi-Fi calls and essential health, education and emergency services – all of which depend on stable and accessible Internet connections.

Where Wi-Fi is “critical as water”

“Internet connectivity empowers remote communities and allows them to access basic services and thrive,” said Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. “For these communities, Wi-Fi is as critical as water. It is a must for social and economic development that OpenRoaming projects across the globe are driving up digital inclusion. This project is already showing how having a global connectivity infrastructure that reaches all communities, has the potential to transform civilization.”

“In the past, people in these towns could walk for a whole day to check their bank balance or access eGovernment services,” said Darryl Clarke, CEO of Easyweb Digital. “This OpenRoaming solution will deliver an all-in-one solution for these previously forgotten people to gain easy and secure online access in any local community. As we grow our OpenRoaming coverage across the region, people will be able to connect wherever they go – so they’ll never have to plan their day around where they’ll be connecting.”

The project, delivered by Easyweb via WBA members Encapto and Cambium Networks, is focused on delivering ‘place-based’ telecommunications infrastructure to improve digital connectivity across remote communities in Central Australia. Residents of these small communities are highly mobile, regularly travelling 300-500km round trips to neighboring communities or Alice Springs, to visit family, participate in sports or cultural events, or access essential services.

“Providing connectivity to these regions has been notoriously challenging in the past, due to their remoteness, high levels of social disadvantage, and low levels of digital literacy,” added Mr Clarke. “For First Nations communities, smartphones are the primary way of accessing online services, but in the past connectivity has been slow, unreliable, and expensive. Providing free connectivity to residents in these communities is a critical first step in enabling them to access the services they need.”

Driving digital inclusion

OpenRoaming allows users with varying technical skills to easily move between different Wi-Fi and cellular networks through a profile installed on their mobile device, which automatically authenticates them while ensuring the highest standards of security and data privacy. By allowing users to automatically connect to the nearest Community Wi-Fi Hub without repeated logins, OpenRoaming will provide uninterrupted connectivity.

Voice over Wi-Fi is a particularly important feature in this region, where communities such as Haasts Bluff/Ikuntji and Nturiya have no cellular service. In future, Easyweb Digital hopes to support the development of educational resources and training programs to promote new digital skills in these communities, as well as developing a helpline and a smartphone app to support its Wi-Fi customers.

The deployment of Community Wi-Fi Hubs with OpenRoaming is based on Cambium Networks XV2-2T0 outdoor Wi-Fi APs and XV2-21X indoor APs, Encapto software, and Easyweb managing and deploying the end-to-end solution, which includes solar-powered cabinets and mesh network backhaul for continuity of service, using GEO and LEO satellites.

The mesh capability means these networks can also be cost-effectively scaled through the installation of simple nodes to deliver premium-grade Wi-Fi to community halls, health centres, schools, and other public buildings. In addition, the Encapto platform enables mesh networks to be extended to in-the-home Wi-Fi services using a ‘freemium’ model that ensures free access to basic services, and commercialisation opportunities for premium levels of connectivity.