Johannesburg, 31 Aug 2021
For the majority of the world’s internet population, WiFi is an important connectivity medium. However, the quality of experience is often below expectations.
Some interesting statistics that underline the growing need for high-speed internet in these areas include:
- Mobile data demand is growing 45%+ YOY, putting greater pressure for investments in capacity;
- Carriers need to increase spending +83% by 2025 to meet demand, and yet ARPUs (average revenue per unit) are flat or falling;
- Only a quarter of users access Facebook through WiFi; and
- It is believed that 5G is still several years away from mass-market availability and deployment costs are not yet known.
“However, the levers for WiFi service providers to monetise their existing networks in innovative ways, while achieving high quality of service (QOS), are limited or costly. This in turn makes it difficult to justify further investments in capacity, coverage or management systems. By investing in Cambium’s range of high-performance WiFi solutions, service providers will benefit from cloud SaaS, cloud network management, business management, monetisation and customisation tools at zero cost,” says Teresa Huysamen, Wireless Business Unit Executive at Duxbury Networking, local distributor of Cambium technology.
Huysamen points out some of the challenges that exist to reaching a solution:
- Deployment
Deploying WiFi is hard
Lack of skilled technicians
Different tools and methods
Finding the best location
- Monetisation
Monetisation is difficult
No ‘one-size-fits-all’ hotspots
Customised promotions
Payment integration
- Visibility
Expensive analytics tools
Complicated API integration
Not enough details
Requires business management
Facebook Express WiFi provides the tools to deploy WiFi hotspots in emerging markets with low availability of internet access. The combined power of Express Wi-Fi and Cambium Networks cnMaestro cloud management simplifies deployment, dramatically lowers cost and supports multi-tiered business models tailored to individual use cases.
Facebook Express Wi-Fi is an end-to-end SaaS (software as a service) platform for launching and operating a sustainable, high-quality WiFi network that enables one to:
- Achieve better utilisation and profitability from an innovative portfolio of monetisation levers;
- Leverage machine learning (ML) and advanced analytics for optimal network deployment; and
- Access an ecosystem of hardware that supports Express Wi-Fi – off-the-shelf.
It is built as a cloud-native SaaS platform, allowing lessons learned and feature developments from anywhere in the Express Wi-Fi community to become immediately available for the benefit of everyone in the community.
How does Facebook Express Wi-Fi work?
With Express Wi-Fi, Facebook works with a variety of partners in an expanding ecosystem of mobile network operators (MNOs), ISPs and satellite providers. The goal of these partnerships is to provide low-cost and fast internet access by providing a comprehensive WiFi platform that partners can leverage to better build, operate, grow and monetise internet access over WiFi in a sustainable and scalable way.
End-users join the Express Wi-Fi network via a slick and intuitive interface that is customisable and allows the partner/ISP to place ads on the interface for indirect monetisation or provide the ability to pay for the network usage to directly monetise the network via data packs.
For service providers, Express Wi-Fi also provides a range of tools both on the SaaS interface and via mobile and technician apps that help provide analytics and management.
“Cambium has taken the guesswork out of monetisation in public WiFi environments by certifying the interoperability of Express Wi-Fi with Cambium wireless infrastructure. The joint solution is quick to set up and delivers a great, reliable WiFi experience to end-users,” says Huysamen.
Benefits of the Cambium Networks Wi-Fi solution
- Zero cost to evaluate the solution. Any service provider can sign up at cloud.cambiumnetworks.com and start working with cnMaestro.
- Affordable. No cost, no licence fee, no recurring fee for ongoing network management of an XWF hotspot network up to 10 000 access points.
- Extensible to interface with an existing Open Broadcaster Software (OBSS) that may be in use by a service provider or network operator. Multi-tenant features, RESTful API, enhanced reporting and >10 000 devices management are available through an affordable subscription fee.
- Flexible. Multiple indoor and outdoor WiFi access points give the service provider flexibility to choose the optimal product for the use case.
- Backed by technical support and hardware warranty. Outdoor access points include a three-year hardware warranty at no additional cost.
- Easily acquired through global distributors with local representatives in each region.
- More than 40 000 Cambium Networks Express Wi-Fi by Facebook access points across the globe.
Express Wi-Fi Cambium Networks solution allows users, business owners and service providers to:
- Build:
Smartphone application to test network.
Comprehensive toolkit to plan, deploy and test.
- Operate:
Network planning platform to monitor and manage your network in real-time.
Business and sales monitoring.
- Grow:
Analytics-driven business intelligence.
Identify new segments and opportunity.
Execute sales initiative for growth.
- Monetise:
Consumer-facing tools.
Leverage a portfolio of monetisation levers.
- Use purpose-built WiFi access points
- Optimise site selection:
Machine learning driven site selection based on people density, WiFi density.
Guided installation app for any installer or contracted installer (repeatable installation).
Plan strategic investment before capex outlay.
“Cambium Networks is the only wireless vendor with a unified, cloud-managed wireless fabric portfolio of solutions that provides reliable, scalable, affordable and easy-to-manage connectivity that snaps in to work with embedded systems. With millions of modules deployed, the Cambium cloud-managed, multi-gigabit wireless fabric of solutions is proven to deliver performance, security and low total cost of ownership (TCO). Users benefit from quick and intuitive access to fast, reliable and affordable WiFi. Business owners experience increased foot traffic in and around buildings, and create a new revenue source by selling data packs,” says Huysamen.
For more information, contact Duxbury Networking, (+27) 0 11 351 9800, info@duxnet.co.za, www.duxbury.co.za.
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