Mauritania to Improve GSM Coverage

interWAVE Communications has won a US$1.8 million GSM contract with Mauritel Mobiles in the northern African country of Mauritania. interWAVE is to supply a turnkey GSM solution to connect four remote GSM network extensions to the capital city, Nouakchott, via satellite. The four outlying municipalities include the city of Zouerate, a major economic center anchored by the mining industry. interWAVE is expected to replace a major wireless supplier in this region.

Ahmedou Ould Ahmed Sidi, technical director of Mauritel Mobiles, commented, "After a careful review of the offerings of the communications infrastructure providers, it became clear that interWAVE's solution offered the most convincing value proposition -- the combination of a high level of capabilities at the most affordable price. The ability to provide cost-effective local switching in all four remote cities was critical to Mauritel Mobiles since it enables us to significantly reduce our satellite backhaul costs. Additionally, it allows us to meet the regulatory requirement of local interconnection to both the wireline and our competitor's wireless networks in each of these cities. We are confident the interWAVE solution will present immediate cost savings to Mauritel Mobiles and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship."

interWAVE's turnkey solution for Mauritel Mobiles includes four remote GSM network extensions including radio, switching, satellite compression and microwave equipment. Each remote system is designed to interface with an Alcatel centralized Intelligent Network (IN) prepaid system based in Nouakchott. interWAVE's GSM solution, integrated with advanced satellite compression capabilities, is anticipated to provide more than 50 percent satellite bandwidth savings compared to competing GSM solutions."

Posted to the site on 30th May 2003