Remote and rural coverage
Weigh up the economic, business and technology arguments and options to bring voice and data affordably to rural and remote areas
Remote and rural coverage
- It’s a big market: 17 percent of the world’s rural population has no mobile coverage at all, and 19 percent of the rural population is only covered by a 2G network
- New approaches, business models, regulations and technologies are evolving that are making it more viable for service providers to deliver rural voice and data coverage – including mobile broadband
- People in rural or remote areas will benefit, but so will industries in those areas – like mining and agriculture
What we do
- Lead strategic initiatives and research projects examining the cost-effective extension of rural networks
- Governments and industry consult our experts on the opportunities and issues associated with rural and remote voice, data and broadband provision
- We understand all aspects of rural and remote coverage, from the technology options to the groups that need it – from private citizens to rural businesses and major industries in remote areas
Why we are different
- We have hands-on experience, most recently as Independent Assessor for the UK’s Shared Rural Network Initiative, a programme to improve 4G-based services
- We understand which frequencies and technologies are better suited to delivering mobile services across the widest possible area at the lowest cost
- We believe that opportunities exist to deliver services to rural and remote areas, where traditional network services and operator models would fail any normal business case for investment
It’s happening now
More efficient technologies, better regulation and business models are being developed to enable rural coverage – and we are helping to develop them. For example, we believe that spectrum sharing and private network provision can offer opportunities to deliver services to rural and remote areas, where traditional network services and operator models would fail any normal business case for investment.
If you want to find out more about our work in advising the UK’s Shared Rural Network Initiative, or want to talk about your own ‘local’ challenges in getting coverage where it’s needed, then get in touch.
What we offer
- Experience: Our consultants have decades of experience specifying, designing, installing, configuring and troubleshooting networks across numerous countries in both urban and rural contexts.
- A wide frame of reference: We take a global perspective – our experts have a deep understanding of coverage for rural areas and best practise in other parts of the world.
- Support and expertise: Networks are getting coverage to disenfranchised rural communities, supporting the needs of public infrastructure in isolated places and increasingly connecting businesses or venues in the hardest-to-reach areas. We are helping to make this happen
Publications
The path to true 5G and what it means for businesses
Real Wireless Managing Consultant Julie Bradford has written this accessible introduction to the 5G roadmap for Enterprise IT teams. This guide offers a realistic take on how we see 5G evolving – what’s happening today, what’s likely to happen in the near future – and how significant shifts in network architecture like virtualisation and network slicing will affect services, costs and supply chain.
Download
26 GHz – the opportunity for a fresh approach to licensing in higher frequencies
The 26 GHz band is capable of delivering fibre-like speeds with extremely low latency, but the high propagation loss poses a challenge to achieve wide area coverage compared to lower spectrum bands. This report proposes a hybrid licensing approach to achieve Ofcom’s objective of licensing this band as part of their commitment to the EU directive.
Download
Better mobile services for your building
Property owners and tenants who are looking at ways of improving the mobile service in their building may be wondering where to start. Certainly the end result will differ according to the building, but, whether yours is an airport, an enterprise office, a shopping centre or a museum, some considerations apply to all buildings – and the most urgent consideration is to get unbiased, expert advice. And our new Guide is a great place to start.
Download
John Okas
Chief Commercial Officer
Mark Keenan
Director
Dr. Abhaya Sumanasena
Head of Policy and Regulation
Dr. Anastasios Karousos
Head of Network Modelling and Simulation
Dr. Hassan Osman
Wireless Technology Consultant
Costa Tsourkas
Managing Consultant
Gary Stuart
Mobile Network Deployment Expert
Shruthi Kumar
Sustainability and Rural Connectivity TEA Analyst
News & blogs
We are members of
Our awards
