Wireless Networks

Huawei and MTN deploy innovative new rural base station in Nigeria

Huawei and MTN deploy innovative new rural base station in Nigeria
The world's first RuralCow commercial deployment by MTN Nigeria and Huawei

It’s only been a week or two since its launch was formally announced, but it seems that Huawei’s RuralCow, a rapid-deployment, all-in-one mobile base station that provides mobile coverage to remote rural areas, has already made an impact in a major market.

Indeed, operator MTN Nigeria and Huawei have already (last week in fact) completed the world's first commercial deployment of RuralCow.

Why Nigeria? Because rural residents account for nearly half of its population (around 105 million people) and, in rural areas, the absence of reliable grid power and fibre transmission infrastructure makes the cost of deploying traditional base stations far higher than in cities.

That’s without taking into account small numbers of people in rural areas, a dispersed rural population and probable low average revenue per user (ARPU).

Hence the RuralCow solution, enabling efficient mobile network rollout. It combines a baseband unit, radio unit, and transmission equipment, and supports multiple frequency bands and radio access technologies.

Compared with traditional macro base stations, says Huawei, it cuts overall power consumption by about 85%, reduces equipment quantity by roughly 70%, and requires no heavy machinery for installation.

Operating without fibre or microwave links, it can achieve non-line-of-sight (NLOS) transmission distances of about 30 kilometres, significantly enhancing coverage, while its intelligent remote operation and maintenance functions keep on-site visits to a minimum.

Importantly for operators, live network deployment statistics show that, for villages with populations between 1,000 and 3,000, RuralCow shortens the ROI period from 5–10 years to around three years, delivering efficient coverage and sustainable commercialisation in underserved regions.

Thus, boasting, ultra-simplified architecture, ultra-low power consumption, easy installation and low O&M cost, it’s likely to be well suited to rural Nigeria’s needs. In fact, in Nigeria’s grasslands, operators can transport all RuralCow equipment to a site by motorcycle and complete installation in one day.

And it’s not just suited to Nigeria. In Brazil’s rainforests, the solution’s NLOS capability can overcome dense vegetation barriers, allowing for much faster site deployment at much lower heights. This enables villagers to access global agricultural markets and sell local produce.

We should soon have some concrete evidence of the solution’s versatility. Moving forward, Huawei says RuralCow will expand network coverage to more villages in regions such as Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.



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