Swift Networks Oils Machine for 4G WiMax Broadband Service

Swift Networks Limited, a leading provider of wireless broadband services to business and residential users, today announced the commencement of rigorous tests of its 4G 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.

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. These participants will also test Swift’s multiple services (internet, telephony, fax and video) and the new and revolutionary multiple user modem that creates a WiFi cloud for every User’s office or home without the need of an external router. Some of Swift Networks’s 18 bank customers are participating in the test-drive as their branches are being interconnected in “Virtual Links” running on Swift’s Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) mechanism on the new 4G WiMax core infrastructure.

Chuma Okoye, chief operating officer, Swift Networks said that “we have incorporated the results of various market research we have conducted in designing our new 4G WiMAX network. On completion, it will be ten times bigger than our current network and 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”. 

 “The tests will not only stress Swift Networks’s new billing, customer Relationship Management and Accounting Systems Accuracy and User Friendliness, but will also showcase the unique advantages of Swift Networks ‘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” explained Okoye.

Philip Sonibare, AGM, Consumer Sales and Marketing of Swift Networks noted that lack of broadband speed internet access remains the number one pain for internet customers in Nigeria. “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. 83% of our 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.

Swift Networks is building the most dense wireless broadband access network infrastructure (based on the WIMAX 802.16e protocol) to bring the benefits of improved international backbone bandwidth capacity to Nigerian businesses and homes. Availability of sufficient last mile connectivity is now the bottleneck in the Nigerian broadband value chain and responsible for the current slow connection speeds and high subscription rates experienced in Nigeria. Swift Networks is already connected to MainOne, Glo 1 and SAT-3 for bandwidth capacity availability and redundancy purposes.