Redline Communications Group Inc. has announced its partnership with Fibairo to plug the connectivity gap in underserved, rural communities in England, Scotland and Wales.
“Redline Communications’ partnership with Fibairo is a real example of mission-critical implementation,” states Reno Moccia, EVP of Sales & Marketing of Redline Communications. “Redline supports Fibairo’s initiatives to create a TV White Space (TVWS) solution to help bridge the rural divide in remote parts of the United Kingdom. We look forward to scaling and growing the TVWS solution with Fibairo.”
TV White Spaces, are frequencies no longer used by TV channels, allowing the delivery of affordable internet access where incumbent service providers can’t, or won’t, go. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, Fibairo solutions do not require line-of-sight, can cope with uneven terrain and have a range of up to 10 kilometres..
The Fibairo team have spent the last five years rigorously testing the service in some of the most challenging areas in the U.K. and are now deploying the solution commercially at scale following a recent funding round.
Fibairo will connect more than 20,000 properties including residential, business and enterprise customers. The company is focused on communities in remote locations and housing associations needing to connect low income households to the internet nationally over the next two years. Fibairo is also delivering other applications in the smart energy and transport sectors.
After extensive testing with multiple vendors of TV whitespace hardware, Redline was found to be the only one to consistently deliver the service levels and throughput needed to scale a commercial service.
“Fibairo is applying innovative TV White Space to deliver life-changing services to communities all over the world,” states Mark Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer of Fibairo. “The Fibairo team we have assembled has extensive experience in ISP creation from start-up to scale, and delivering great technical services whilst maintaining passion for the product and the customer experience. We’re applying innovative TVWS technology to our legacy knowledge and using this to deliver life-changing services to communities. We are grateful for our partnership with Redline as we develop TVWS solutions that can be implemented quickly and successfully to create robust and reliable service in the United Kingdom.”
In the U.K., Redline and Fibairo have been collaborating on optimizing TVWS performance, developing and sourcing antennae, ultimately moving consumers from an eight or 10 Mbps experience to a consistent 50 to 80 Mbps performance. Fibairo can now scale and grow the TVWS solution with Redline, and in alignment with U.K. partners, Fibairo has now secured funding to roll out the networks.
Initial networks will be in Scotland, in some of the hardest reach areas and communities. But expansion is planned to the rest of the U.K., and internationally over the next 24 months.
