NEC Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, CJSC NEC Neva Communications Systems (NEC Neva), has supplied Rostelecom OJSC, Russia's largest fixed-line long-distance telephone carrier, with NEC's iPASOLINK EX outdoor, integrated, ultra-compact microwave communications system which supports 70-80 GHz E-band communications. The first of the 235 stations were installed in Siberia and North-West Russia in July 2013 and the network is now being expanded to the South of the country and within Siberia.
iPASOLINK EX is a compact, lightweight system that is easy to install in a wide range of outdoor locations to provide ultra high speed backhaul for macro and small cell networks to meet rising levels of mobile data demand. Rostelecom is using NEC's iPASOLINK EX system to support its macro network in areas that are inhospitable to dug optical cable, such as Siberia, as well as for back-up use when Ethernet fails due to flooding, fire or other emergency situations. As the E-Band millimeter-wave spectrum is unlicensed or lightly licensed in many countries, frequency acquisition costs are very low.
NEC's solution supports1 Gbps transmissions due to its pioneering use of a 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) method, which delivers fast data rates with higher levels of spectral efficiency, and the narrow 250 MHz bandwidth.
"NEC has been providing Rostelecom with microwave and transmission systems for over 30 years," said Akihiro Sakurai, Managing Director of NEC Neva Communications Systems. "Over this period, many projects have been implemented, including the construction of the 7,560 km (4,700 miles) Trans-Siberian-Line network in 1996 and this latest wireless microwave backhaul upgrade. NEC's selection is recognition of the high level of reliability and the long-term quality of its technologies and services and strong microwave technology product roadmap."