Airspan Networks Inc., a provider of broadband wireless access networks, has announced that Multisource Telecoms, a South African wireless communications provider, has selected Airspan’s (News - Alert) WiMAX equipment for a unique live pilot broadcast.

Multisource is currently working with Siemens (News - Alert) and the South African Broadcasting Corp. (SABC), the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa, which provides 18 radio stations as well as four television broadcasts to the general public, to cover live broadcast for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa next year.

According to a press release, the company is using Airspan WiMAX (News - Alert) equipment to offer live broadcast for the FIFA World Cup. The WiMAX equipment was set up to deliver high-speed next-generation connectivity, allowing the broadcast-quality audio of a soccer game between Manchester City and the Kaiser Chiefs in Durban, South Africa.

Along with this, Airspan's MicroMAXd, a highly integrated micro-cell base station with all-in-one outdoor packaging of RF and base-band components are used to support the whole event.

This product is developed for operation on a wide variety of frequency bands including, 700 MHz, 1.5, 3.3, 3.5, 3.7, 4.9, 5.1, 5.4, 5.8 and 5.9 GHz bands.

 

"This has been a very exciting project," said Jacques Jordaan, manager, technical services, Multisource Telecoms, in the release. "After the successful trial at the Durban game, we are confident that Airspan's WiMAX is the technology best suited for the broadcast at the FIFA games. The country is extremely proud and excited to host next year's FIFA World Cup and we are committed to improving visitors' and locals' experiences in any way we can, including by offering a quality broadcast of the game for those who are not fortunate enough to attend in person."

 

"Airspan is supplying an all-outdoor solution for this project. A solution that offers range, capacity, and affordability is vital," commented Declan Byrne, chief marketing officer for Airspan. “The ease and speed of deployment are also important qualities of our WiMAX solution. Multisource needed an ad-hoc, temporary network that could be easily assembled for the game with small and easy-to-handle units. We look forward to working closely with Multisource on this and future projects."

 

With direct sales offices throughout Asia, EMEA and the Americas, a worldwide network of resellers and agents, and partnership alliances with major OEMs, Airspan boasts over 100 commercial WiMAX deployments worldwide.