Dimension Data division Internet Solutions (IS) has signed a five-year contract with the SA arm of American Tower Corporation (ATC) in terms of which it will use ATC’s towers to offer wireless solutions. IS says the deal will “position it” to offer fourth-generation (4G) broadband services when these become available in SA.
“The deal obviates the need for IS to build its own towers to enable its business growth and gives it the means to leapfrog its clients, which include most of SA’s large corporations, to next-generation broadband capabilities,” the company says in a statement.
In the short term, the agreement will allow it to extend its “IS Wi-Band” offering beyond large metros. The company was recently granted access to spectrum in the 28GHz band that allows it to provide licensed wireless point-to-multipoint connectivity ahead of the licensing of 4G spectrum.
“The only limitation we had to IS Wi-Band was the number of towers we had access to, most of which were in the major metropolitan areas,” says IS carrier services executive Raj Wanniappa. “We’ve now removed that limitation by gaining access to ATC SA’s nationwide network of towers. We can give any organisation close to an ATC SA tower immediate access to wireless capability.”
IS Wi-Band is capable of transmitting data volumes of up to 20Mbit/s.
ATC bought Cell C’s tower infrastructure in 2011 in a R430m deal and plans to build hundreds of new towers across the country. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media