Winncom engineers a solution and supplies Orthogon gear to power the fastest growing mobile telecommunications network in the Caribbean
The Integrator
Digicel, the fastest growing integrator and the largest GSM mobile telecommunications operator across the Caribbean and Bermuda, has been fastening its position in the region since its inception in 2001. Now, the company provides cellular services in 20 countries and plans to extend its foothold into other Caribbean countries. To foster personal and professional connections between Caribbean nations and people, Digicel offers its customers affordable and innovative mobile communications.
The Task
Being passionate about providing the best mobile phone service to customers, Digicel decided to increase its cellular network resilience and attempted to establish a powerful backhaul connection between Trinidad and neighboring Grenada. The link would serve the population of Grenada and mobile users in other countries throughout its Caribbean network (including Aruba, Barbados, Cayman, Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines) by extending better services and more reliable connectivity to approximately one million new users.
The Challenge
The greatest challenge that Digicel faced was to overcome a distance of 158.6km over water. Professional installation is required when faced with the challenges of providing connectivity over a long distance over water.
After trying to establish a connection between the islands, Digicel turned to Winncom for technical assistance. With years of integrator experience and a strong engineering team on staff, Winncom was able to solve the problem Digicel had. Being a value-added distributor, Winncom differentiates itself by delivering innovative solutions, system design and installation assistance. Considering the challenges and particulars of the needed solution, Winncom designed a backhaul system based on a leading industry manufacturer's products and delegated an engineer to help Digicel configure and deploy the link.
The Solution
With Satellite connectivity being the main signal source for customers in Grenada, Digicel decided to improve the existing network and make it more reliable and resilient. The solution required the replacement of the satellite backhaul with a local pipeline to keep the satellite link as a back up. To handle a distance of 98.5 miles (158.6km) Winncom proposed the use of Orthogon OS Gemini 5.8 GHz radios and four (2 on each end) 8' RadioWaves Standard antennas with radomes used in Spatial Diversity. To satisfy customer's request, 40m - 52m of Waveguide cable was installed to lessen the attenuation as Digicel's ODUs were installed in the equipment room.
The Details
Establishing a connection using IDFS radio transmission type was not effective as this transmission type makes the radio scan the area for a signal multiple times before the connection is established - once the link is disrupted, the time-consuming scanning procedure repeats. That type of technology could not provide the connectivity required over 100 miles of water. After the site survey and necessary calculations completed, Winncom engineers concluded that a fixed frequency needed to be used when establishing a link between Trinidad and Grenada. Thus, the transmission frequency (TX) on the Trinidad side was set to be 5.776 GHz; the receive frequency (RX) on the Trinidad side - 5.794GHz. Similar settings had been set on the Grenada side: TX-5.794 GHz-RX-5.776 GHz. Both configurations were almost identical in Trinidad and Grenada except for different lengths of Waveguide cable. Under the supervision and guidance of the Winncom engineer, Digicel employees configured the Orthogon radios and the RadioWaves antennas located on Trylon towers were adjusted accordingly. Because of the minimal height difference between the two sites, the Azimuth was set to 180 degrees up and down (totally vertical). The same setup was in Grenada. The receiving power level of -55dBm was satisfactory. Using TDM and IP optimization, 11.02mbps and 14.32mbps were acquired in each direction respectively.
Digicel is one of the recent examples of Winncom's value-added services offered worldwide. Partnering with integrators and service providers worldwide, Winncom has the products and the knowledge to support large-scale wireless voice and data comunication deployments.
About Winncom
Winncom Technologies Corporation is one of the world's respected technology distributors and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company. Winncom Technologies Corporation creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support and product aggregation and distribution. Since its beginnings in 1993, Winncom Technologies Corporation has connected technology solution providers with vendors worldwide, identifying markets and technologies that shape the IT industry. The company offers a broad array of solutions and services to over 6,000 resellers by distributing and marketing thousands of IT products worldwide from wide variety of suppliers. Through Winncom Technologies logistics, the company provides customizable services for order management and fulfillment, contract manufacturing, contract warehousing, product procurement, product packaging, reverse logistics, transportation management, customer care, credit and collection management services, and other value chain services.