GSM Arrives on the Cocos Islands

interWAVE has completed the installation of a GSM network on Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, north-west of Australia. eNIC Corporation, a subsidiary of VeriSign and an Internet service provider with deployments around the world, will use interWAVE's network solution to provide wireless telephony services to island residents, business and schools, as well as access to the internet.

interWAVE has provided infrastructure equipment, including base stations, a mobile switching center and radios, installed on Home Island and West Island and interconnected via a microwave link. A satellite link from West Island connects the network into Australia's public telephone network. interWAVE's technology switches local calls locally, minimizing the costs associated with backhauling cellular traffic to the Australian mainland. Only long-distance calls are routed via satellite to the public telephone network in Australia.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located northwest of Perth and southwest of Christmas Island, consists of twenty-seven coral islands with a total land area of approximately 14 square kilometers. eNIC Corporation's future plans include network expansion to other islands, including Christmas Island. Yesterday interWave won the contract to provide a GSM network to Micronesia."

Posted to the site on 11th January 2002