Siklu announced that its EtherHaul millimeter-wave wireless backhaul solution performed well in a challenging trial in Mumbai, India, during the recent monsoon season. Having already established a leading position in the European E-band backhaul market, the trial, demonstrated that the company’s EtherHaul E-band systems can be effectively used in India, for last mile backhaul of mobile and business services.
A leading Indian mobile operator performed the trial of Siklu’s E-band backhaul radios from June to December 2011 to determine whether they would be able to perform reliably, with usable link distances, during the monsoon season. A new solution was required, as conventional wireless backhaul systems operating in the E-band spectrum may deliver high-capacity bandwidth that can support network upgrades for 4G/LTE, but can be adversely affected by attenuation caused by rain.
A series of EtherHaul links were deployed at various distances and their performance and availability were monitored for an entire monsoon season in Mumbai. The monsoon in that region is one of the harshest in India, and was particularly challenging during the trial.
“We are pleased with the performance of the Siklu EtherHaul trial in the Indian weather conditions,” said an executive of the operator. “Now we can benefit from the underutilized E-band spectrum and deliver high-capacity at a very low cost as soon as the pricing of the spectrum will be finalized.”