WOODSTOCK, N.B. – National rural broadband provider and Manitoba mobile wireless company, Xplornet Communications, announced today it has sublicensed 40MHz of AWS-4 spectrum from TerreStar Solutions.
The spectrum covers most of the rural households located across Canada's ten provinces and will enable Xplornet to build a national 5G wireless broadband network for rural Canadians, said the company in its announcement Thursday.
“The spectrum agreement with TerreStar makes over 500 million MHzPOP of mid-band spectrum available to Xplornet for deployment in 37 tier 3 and 13 tier 4 areas across Canada until March 2035, with an option for Xplornet to extend the term of the agreement should TerreStar's AWS-4 spectrum licences be renewed. The spectrum band is downlink mobile spectrum in the 2000 MHz to 2020 MHz and 2180 MHz to 2200 MHz frequency ranges that can be used to provide fixed or mobile broadband,” explains the press release.
This will enable the company to dig into the latest wireless technology to deliver future 5G services powered by 100 Mbps speeds and lower latency.
"Having more mid-band spectrum is an important next step in our plan to advance the availability of wireless broadband services to rural Canadians," said Tim Dinesen, Xplornet’s CTO, in the release. "We have made significant investments in our broadband network in recent years and are eager to put this AWS-4 spectrum to work, complementing our existing spectrum holdings."
Xplornet is working with vendors to develop 5G-ready radio access equipment and consumer premise equipment, meeting the 3GGP standards, said the company. “The AWS-4 downlink spectrum will be paired with available uplink spectrum, including spectrum currently held by Xplornet. The AWS-4 spectrum is one of a number of bands that will be deployed to deliver 5G services. Xplornet holds mobile and fixed licensed spectrum in the 3500 MHz, 2500 MHZ, 600 MHz, 700 MHz and AWS-1 bands,” notes the release.
