SWIFT Networks tests 4G WiMAX service

Leading provider of wireless broadband services in the country, SWIFT Networks Limited, said it has tested its 4G-based Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) broadband network and backend systems in Lagos. These tests will be conducted with 500 participants from different parts of the city, selected for their very heavy usage and dependence on broadband internet for their business and lifestyle.

Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Chuma Okoye said that the aim of these trials is to demonstrate the ultrafast 4G Broadband download speeds significantly faster than what is offered by any other operator in Nigeria.

The participants, he said, would also test SWIFT’s multiple services namely the internet, telephony, fax and video as well as the new and revolutionary multiple user modem that creates a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) cloud for every user’s office or home without the need of an external router.

Some of SWIFT’s 18 bank customers, he said, are participating in the test-drive as their branches are being interconnected with the ‘Virtual Links’ running on SWIFT’s Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) mechanism on the new 4G WIMAX core infrastructure.

According to Okoye, Swift Network has incorporated results of various market researches conducted during the design for the new 4G WiMAX network.

On completion, he said, the network will be ten times bigger than it is currently.

“We will continue the expansion in tandem with the demand for our services to sustain the speed advantage our brand seeks to bring to the market. We have also commissioned a new and more robust multi-service billing platform that will ensure that our customers are billed accurately and timely. This upgrade is specifically for speed but has incorporated other very important elements required for a totally improved customer experience” he said.

Okoye explained that the tests would not only stress SWIFT’s new billing, customer relationship management and accounting systems accuracy as well as user friendliness, “but will also showcase the unique advantages of Swift’s new revolutionary multiple service and multiple simultaneous user wireless modem, while highlighting the benefits of improved international bandwidth availability in Nigeria to Business and Residential users.”

In addition, the assistant general manager (AGM), Consumer Sales and Marketing at Swift Networks, Mr. Philip Sonibare, noted that lack of broadband speed internet access remains the number one pain for internet customers in the country.

“We believe that we have cracked this problem with our new 4G WiMAX broadband service which will provide our customers with a very fast, reliable and affordable Internet service that works where and when they want,” he said.

Underscoring the fact that about 83 per cent of current test participants already see a service that is faster than anything else they have experienced so far.

“And this is before the final network optimization that will be undertaken before we go live and commercial. Accordingly, services like Youtube, Skype video calling and similar services have a network built specifically for them” he said.

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