Ghana Telecom extends wired network with Alvarion broadband wireless equipment

Alvarion Ltd., the world's leading provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, announced that Ghana Telecom, the country's incumbent carrier, is using Alvarion's eMGW product to expand its telecommunications network to provide highspeed data and voice services to business and residential customers. Ghana Telecom has ordered more than $4 million of eMGW equipment since the beginning of 2005, to be shipped and deployed during the course of the year, enabling quick and easy connection to new customers to the existing access network infrastructure in the capital city of Accra, where wired access infrastructure is limited.

"We have invested heavily in upgrading our switching and transmission network in recent years and our experience showed us that using Alvarion's eMGW wireless product is the most effective way to extend our network to the entire population of Greater Accra," said Jarle Rekve, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Ghana Telecom. "We were impressed with the system's quality of service for toll-quality voice and always-on, broadband data services. We hope to roll out the system in other cities in the near future."

Alvarion's eMGW is a highly cost-effective point-to-multi-point fixed wireless access system tailor-made for SOHO and residential users. eMGW provides fast Internet access, corporate access, and carrier-class telephony in a single system, and its innovative 'hybrid-switching' architecture uses circuit switching for toll-quality voice and packet switching for fast data services to maximize spectrum and equipment utilization. Operating in a wide range of frequencies (800MHz-5.7GHz), the MGW/eMGW product family has been successfully installed in over 60 countries.

"Our eMGW solution is a perfect fit for low teledensity areas requiring a system that rolls out voice and broadband data services to thousands more subscribers simply and costeffectively," said Tzvika Friedman, President and COO of Alvarion. "Ghana Telecom is yet another incumbent carrier that shares our vision of wireless broadband as the best economic alternative to traditional wired access, especially in areas lacking in telecommunications infrastructure. We look forward to expanding our relationship."