NetComm debuts LTE WiFi router

Stuart Corner
Monday, 14 February 2011 11:41

Business IT - Networking

NetComm (ASX: NTC) in partnership with Sierra Wireless will debut its LTE based WiFi access point/router at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and says it is already on trial with a number of telcos around the world.

NetComm is aiming for a global market, the large-scale LTE network developments currently being undertaken by 180 network operators in 70 countries. Meanwhile the company says it is "working with carriers to test the NetComm Liberty Series LTE WiFi Router on trial LTE networks." The device offers up to 100Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream.

CEO David Stewart flagged the company's LTE ambitions at the company's AGM in November, saying "I am pleased to report that we have worked closely with our global telecommunications partners to ensure the immediate deployment of LTE technology on completion of the necessary network architecture'¦Next year we expect to be building the first of our LTE samples for some carriers in the North American & European markets. LTE will be available in Australia in 2013 and by then we will have had several products into the market ready to fulfil the market demand locally."

He told shareholders: "The core of our products is an intelligent flexible routing platform which enables multiple users to utilise various network access protocols used by the different carriers in the world. We are network agnostic. We have great flexibility and versatility in building our products around evolving communication protocols'¦

'We embrace new speeds and new access technologies as the evolutionary process that we can add to our flexible router platform. It is a relatively straightforward process of adding the relevant technology module into our router platform to build a totally new solution that will suit different carriers' network rollouts. This is not so for all, and that is a key competitive advantage."

Sierra Wireless announced its embedded LTE modules last October saying: "Out of the gate, the Sierra Wireless portfolio will support all major network technologies and offer compatibility with existing 2G and 3G services, providing both excellent commercial viability and a solid end-customer experience that supports national and international roaming worldwide."