July 15, 2008

Globecomm Systems Inc. has been awarded a mobile infrastructure contract from First Networks Operations Inc. (FIRST), a Canadian mobile telecommunications operator.

 

Globecomm will provide FIRST with a combination of services and systems extending a GSM wireless network to unserved and underserved businesses and consumers across northern Canada, based on Globecomm's award-winning SatCell technology.  Initial launch will be in the central Canadian province of Manitoba, in the area of the city of Thompson.

 

The market, identified by FIRST, is characterized by sparsely populated First Nations communities that generally have telephone service but no mobile voice or data services.  This part of Canada is, however, currently attracting significant investment in and development of hydroelectric power generation for export to the US as well as nickel, copper, uranium, base metals and diamond extraction.  FIRST is partnering with the Canadian First Nations and provincial hydro companies to deploy a mobile network backhauled by a combination of satellite and fiber. 

 

"We work with northern and aboriginal communities," said FIRST Networks president Dennis Jones," and our business model is not the typical cellular play.  We give the First Nations the opportunity to participate and share in the revenue generated from their communities.  We think this works for both the investors and the community."

 

Globecomm's SatCell service provides FIRST with hosted switching capacity at the company's Mobile Switching Center in Hauppauge, New York, USA.  In addition to service provisioning and call termination, Globecomm provides connection to third-party clearinghouses for voice and data, fraud prevention, prepaid and postpaid billing, voicemail, SMS, least-cost long-distance routing and e-911 service. 

 

Globecomm is also designing the mobile network and installing mobile base stations in the First Nation communities.  Mobile backhaul is provided by FIRST Networks for facilities located near the fiber networks of its hydro company partners.  Globecomm services more remote locations via satellite.   SatCell technology optimizes mobile signaling and backhaul traffic for transmission as IP, using a hybrid architecture customized to a network's traffic volumes and patterns.  The result is a significant reduction in the bandwidth required to connect base stations and a major cost reduction for the satellite links as well as high efficiency across the network.  Globecomm technicians monitor the network from the company's Network Operations Center and adjust traffic prioritization, bandwidth-sharing and modulation schemes to keep the network running at peak efficiency.

 

"Globecomm's level of industry knowledge and expertise in planning, building and operating wireless networks is most impressive," said FIRST Networks' Dennis Jones.  "That expertise and their SatCell hosted switching capability have allowed us to much more rapidly launch and grow our business.  From day one, Globecomm has done everything possible to help us move the business model from concept to reality."

 

FIRST, working with Globecomm, expects to grow its network across northern Canada as quickly as is technically, financially and administratively possible.  As users of GSM technology customers will have the capability to roam onto Rogers Wireless across Canada, T-Mobile or AT&T in the US, and more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 territories and countries throughout the world.  FIRST expects to be operating commercially by the end of the summer of 2008.

 

"SatCell provides carriers with the optimum mobile network for serving low-density markets, geographically isolated areas and sudden demand," said Globecomm vice president Stephen Yablonski.  "It's the ideal way to jumpstart growth in an untapped market.  But it can also be deployed as an overlay to an existing network to cost-effectively enable new services."