LONDON, April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AMN is pleased to
announce that the first AMN base station is now live using LEO
backhaul from SpaceX's Starlink. In 2023, AMN announced a
commercial agreement to use Starlink, SpaceX's constellation of
satellites in low Earth orbit, to connect AMN's mobile network base
stations with high-speed, low-latency broadband services.
By utilising Starlink terminals to provide low-latency satellite
backhaul, we are able to deliver the full capability of AMN's
unique multi-carrier radio access node (the ARN) with 3G and 4G as
well as 2G, with ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth and data
volumes demanded by subscribers whilst remaining economically
sustainable. The LEO backhaul also paves the way for AMN to deliver
5G services, targeted before the end of 2024.
AMN began rolling out rural base stations in Nigeria in 2018, and the company now owns and
operates 1600 base stations across the country. Yebu was the first
rural community to be connected using AMN's ubiquitous solar
powered base station. The village is located approximately 80km
from Abuja, but can take four
hours to reach due to road conditions. Yebu is predominantly an
agricultural community, with a market offering local farmers the
opportunity to sell their goods.
Since connecting the community in November 2018, AMN has processed more than 9
million voice minutes in Yebu, with significant growth in 2022 and
2023 following the BTS upgrade to AMN's own radio node (ARN). AMN
became an OEM for RAN equipment in 2020 following the acquisition
of Range Networks, and now operates more than 1200 ARN across
Africa and Latin America. The impact of this strategic
move is clear in Yebu. In 2023, the site processed almost three
times the amount of traffic than it did in 2020.
"Yebu community was left behind and blind but the coming of
Africa Mobile Networks in 2018 has made us to achieve a lot of
things like police division station, 24 hours solar light and
steady communication all over the world. Before then there was
nothing like those things listed." – Salihu, on behalf of the Yebu
community
AMN believes that all communities of any significant size should
have access to telecommunication services to benefit the population
educationally, economically and socially. AMN has deployed over
4000 base stations across Africa
and Latin America. Installation of
new sites continues throughout 2024 in Nigeria, DRC, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ivory
Coast, Benin and
Rwanda. At AMN, we appreciate that
any solution to close the digital divide must be economically
sustainable and offer a service of the same quality as in urban
areas. From designing and manufacturing our own BTS, uniquely
developed for the solar-powered rural site, to offering
cutting-edge backhaul solutions, we are committed to bringing high
quality connectivity to those living in rural and ultra-rural
areas.
CONTACT: Jennifer Darcy,
jld@amn.com, +44 1908 394482
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