[SatNews] The island residents will now be able to use 2G and 3G technology...

Wireless coverage specialist, Axell Wireless, has delivered a unique solution for the provision of mobile network coverage throughout Male, capital of the island nation, the Maldives. Faced with narrow streets, tightly packed buildings and restrictions on cell towers, the company worked with mobile operator Wataniya Telecom Maldives to deliver 2G and 3G coverage via distributed multi-band digital repeaters linked to a ‘base station hotel’. The Maldives capital occupies an entire island which has been comprehensively developed. The narrow streets and dense built environment are not ideal for the RF (radio frequency) penetration required by mobile networks. That situation is further complicated by the civic administrators’ understandable desire to limit visual impacts on the skyline. Wataniya, the operator covering the Republic of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, turned to Axell Wireless to design a solution that allows the commercial opportunities to be exploited, without the need for traditional cell towers. The island now has comprehensive mobile voice and broadband data services that can be easily upgraded when further capacity is required.

In what is believed to be the first installation of its kind, Axell Wireless solved Wataniya’s problem by applying repeater technologies, which are normally associated with providing mobile coverage indoors. A central site has been equipped with a number of base stations that all receive and transmit via a single cell tower and these base stations are linked by fibre optic connections to Axell Wireless’ multi-band repeaters. The repeaters are distributed around the island to create coverage ‘clouds’ where required. Additional base stations and repeaters can be added as more capacity is required. Axell Wireless is attending the CommunicAsia conference in Singapore (21st – 24th June), the company will be located at stand No 1A3-03.