ARCATA, Calif. & CAMBRIDGE, UK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Carlson Wireless and Neul, Ltd. today announce the launch of the Google-led TV white space trial in South Africa. Google has chosen Carlson Rural Connect® solution, enabled by Neul Horizon software for rural connectivity and the Neul Operations and Management Center (OMC), a cloud-based management system, to provide the communications backbone for the trial with ten schools in the Cape Town area.
The Carlson and Neul collaboration offers the potential to improve Internet connectivity where it is most needed - in the developing world. The joint collaboration involves pioneering technology to take advantage of ‘white space’ spectrum; which is available between television frequency channels. The advantage of white spaces is that low frequency signals can travel longer distances, making the technology well suited to provide low cost connectivity to rural communities with poor telecommunications infrastructure. By leveraging the Neul Horizon protocol, the RuralConnect solution offers an Ethernet cable replacement type connection, allowing point to multi-point sharing of a high bandwidth data link.
Luke Mckend, Google South Africa Country Manager, commented, “We are pleased to be part of this exciting new development – the first of its kind in South Africa – and look forward to opening discussions with policy makers around a regulatory framework that will support the wider use of TVWS to deliver wireless broadband Internet across the country.”
“It is a pleasure to see the work we’ve been doing with Neul on RuralConnect come to fruition in South Africa with the support of Google,” said Jim Carlson, President and CEO of Carlson Wireless. “Particularly in support of such a worthy effort — this trial will help bring Internet access to underserved communities for the future of their students.”
“TV white space offers an affordable alternative to both wired and cellular connections for underreached communities,” said Neil MacMullen, Co-founder and Vice President of Software for Neul. “We’re pleased to partner with Carlson and Google to facilitate the adoption of this technology in support of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa and the Tertiary Education and Research Network (TENET) of South Africa’s effort to bring affordable, broadband Internet to students in Cape Town.”
Dr. Ntsibane Ntlatlapa, Manager, Networks and Media Competency Area at CSIR Meraka Institute, added, “We believe that TVWS could help to bridge the digital divide; transmitting Internet data over long distances and opening up access to underserved communities and rural areas. The evidence gathered from the trial shows that TVWS can be used to deliver wireless Internet services without causing interference to primary users of the spectrum.”
Carlson and Neul have been at the forefront of the white space radio revolution internationally. Neul also launched the first production white space radio equipment, NeulNET, in June 2011. Both companies have taken part in numerous white space trials around the world, and are playing a core role in guiding and shaping the industry, regulations and rollout of this revolutionary communications technology. Neul is also pioneering the use of white space spectrum for machine-to-machine communications. Together with the Weightless™ SIG, Neul has developed a new network technology designed specifically for the burgeoning Internet of Things.
About Carlson Wireless
For more than a decade, Carlson has led the way in engineering high-speed wireless communications solutions for a broad spectrum of applications using RF technology to deliver full voice and data connections no matter how rugged the terrain. Today, Carlson is considered a pioneer of the revolutionary new “Super Wi-Fi” TV white space broadband technology. More than 20 million customers in nearly 200 communities worldwide rely on Carlson radios for their public safety communications and broadband needs. Carlson serves customers in the telecommunications, public safety, military, and energy industries. For more information go to www.CarlsonWireless.com.
About Neul
Founded in Cambridge, UK in 2010 by the core team responsible for building Europe's most successful fabless semiconductor company, CSR; Neul develops innovative and disruptive wireless network technology dedicated to connecting the world of machines. Neul is the first to deploy white space wireless network technology based on the royalty-free, open network standard, Weightless, and the first to develop a single chip white space transceiver. The Neul vision is to bring about a revolution in the way devices and applications communicate, enabling the Internet of everything. Visit www.neul.com for more information.