C Spire announced a partnership with Siklu, a market leader in mmWave wireless solutions, to use multi-gigabit wireless technology to backhaul high speed internet service to thousands of homes and businesses in Mississippi.
C Spire is using Siklu solutions to extend existing fiber optic assets for last mile connections in neighborhoods and business districts in over 150 Mississippi towns and communities as part of a push to rapidly bring the next-generation services to more consumers and businesses at affordable prices.
The high-capacity, small form factor, carrier class EtherHaul™ products are easily and quickly installed enabling rapid internet connections and providing C Spire a cost-effective tool to expand its internet coverage footprint.
Operating in the 60,70-80 GHz uncongested mmWave bands, Siklu’s point-to-point and point-to-multipoint radios have the spectrum and capacity to deliver cost-effective, interference-free connections up to 10 Gbps, giving C Spire the ability to serve customers beyond the reach of its fiber networks.
C Spire is using its 8,400 route miles of fiber backbone to reach hundreds of neighborhoods, cities and towns with high speed internet and the last-mile backhaul is handled by using services from Siklu. “Our service is backhauled by Siklu’s carrier grade solutions enabling us to deliver high speed internet access without the arbitrary data caps usually associated with LTE or satellite services,” said C Spire President Stephen Bye. “With a flat rate of $50 a month, which includes taxes and fees, our customers can now easily get all of the content they want and need.”
Massive broadband deployment is a key part of a broader C Spire Tech Movement initiative designed to leverage the company’s technology leadership and investments to help transform Mississippi. Expanding tech innovation and education in the areas of robotics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning and telehealth are also top priorities for the company, Bye said.
Changing market conditions and consumer and business expectations for internet access speeds ranging from hundreds of Mbps to Gigabit speed connections make aggregating and carrying high volumes of traffic on fiber infrastructure a necessity, but deployment can be slow and expensive, thus creating the need for fixed wireless access, according to Siklu.
“As a leader in mmWave solutions, we’re excited to work with C Spire to provide 5G fixed wireless connectivity, which enables them to offer affordable, high-speed internet access to more customers,” said Siklu CEO Eyal Assa. “With our virtually interference-free technology, this network will provide years of reliable service in the future.”
C Spire provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, consumer and business internet access and related home services as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data, cloud and managed services for businesses.
Siklu delivers multi-gigabit wireless fiber connectivity in urban, suburban and rural areas.