Parallel Wireless, an open RAN company delivering software-defined end-to-end 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G open RAN solutions, is to be part of a partnership to deliver rural communications in Nigeria.
Parallel Wireless has been selected by Hotspot Network Limited, a Network as a Service (NaaS) provider, as a part of Digital Farmers Club (DFC), Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and NITDA Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) connectivity initiatives which aim to deliver 2G, 3G and 4G coverage across 2,000 villages in Nigeria.
The strategic goal of Parallel Wireless and Hotspot’s partnership is to help regional mobile operators build and expand wireless networks across Nigeria, providing next-generation digital services to local communities. This will meet DFC’s, USPFS’ and NAVSA’s objective of providing voice and data services to enable e-health, e-hospitality, e-education, e-banking and e-agriculture. It could also help DFC to create over 100,000 direct jobs and 1,500,000 indirect jobs across Nigeria.
Parallel Wireless plans to deliver high-performance, distributed architecture to build a world-class, cloud-native, 5G-ready open RAN network. This, says Parallel Wireless, will also deliver improved service innovation and reduced operational costs across geographically distributed sites, with the introduction of RAN automation.
Hotspot will offer experience in deploying and managing traditional RAN as a system integrator and NaaS provider, including managed services.
Partner banks will also play a part, funding mobile phone acquisition schemes for women and farmers within a region. The deployment ecosystem will be an off-grid solar power system.
Digital Farmers Club is described as a platform for empowering women and youth who run agro-businesses in rural communities, providing them with knowledge and skills in modern agricultural techniques and running a micro or small business successfully.
