ABC Communications Bridges the Digital Divide in Rural British Columbia

July 19th, 2018

Redline and ABC Communications today announced the successful deployment of Redline’s Virtual Fiber wireless broadband system that bridges the Digital Divide for residential customers in rural British Columbia

TORONTO, ON & QUENSEL, BC, November 29, 2017 – Redline Communications (www.rdlcom.com) Group Inc. (TSX: RDL), a leading provider of wide-area wireless networks for the most challenging applications and locations, and its customer, ABC Communications, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP), today announced the successful deployment of Redline’s Virtual Fiber wireless broadband system that bridges the Digital Divide for residential customers in rural British Columbia. The Digital Divide is the gap in availability of high-speed Internet access between residences and businesses in urban areas, and those in underserved or unserved rural areas.

‘We’re reaching customers who up to now have very poor or no Internet access at all,’ says Falko Kadenbach, ABC Communications’ Vice President. ‘We established connectivity with Redline’s wireless broadband system operating in television white space (TVWS) frequencies at 536-544 MHz (channels 25, 26, 27) under a developmental license from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). With radios operating in these low-band frequencies, we are able to make strong connections between the base station and subscriber units in many cases without a line of sight over rolling hills and through foliage at long distances.’

The company’s initial deployment is in the Burns Lake area in central BC. The TVWS system consists of a single Redline RDL-3000 XP Ellipse base station programmed in the TVWS frequencies and mounted at 100 feet on a tower. The Ellipse radio is equipped with a 90-degree 12 dBi sector antenna that provides connections to Redline Edge subscriber units installed at 20 homes within a 15-20 Km radius. Depending on the subscriber location and the service package selected, ABC can deliver download speeds up to 15 megabits per second (Mbps). The company plans to expand the network to reach another 100 homes in the area.

Kadenbach adds, ‘TVWS is very new in Canada as a frequency available to WISP’s. We spoke to Redline about their product and decided to ask ISED for a developmental license to conduct this test. We believe that this spectrum will allow Canadian WISP’s to offer innovative services that reach further and through more foliage than ever before and as a Canadian company, Redline is leading the way with innovative Canadian products for Canadian broadband projects.’

‘The Redline team and our partner Alliance Corporation are pleased to support ABC Communications in implementing this important project,’ says Jeff Gould, Redline Senior Vice President. ‘Redline is committed to working with WISPs like ABC Communications to extend wireless broadband services into rural areas throughout Canada and close the Digital Divide. Our TVWS product line is purpose-built to deliver reliable, competitive and profitable solutions with superior performance.’

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