For the majority of the world’s internet population, Wi-Fi is an important connectivity medium. However, the quality of experience is often below expectations.
Some interesting statistics that underline the growing need for high-speed internet in these areas include:
Mobile data demand is growing 45%+ YoY, putting greater pressure for investments in capacity
Carriers need to increase spending +83% by 2025 to meet demand, and yet ARPUs (average revenue per unit) are flat or falling
Only a quarter of users access Facebook through Wi-Fi
It is believed that 5G is still several years away from mass-market availability and deployment costs are not yet known.
“However, the levers for Wi-Fi service providers to monetise their existing networks in innovative ways, while achieving high quality of service (QoS), are limited or costly. This in turn makes it difficult to justify further investments in capacity, coverage or management systems. By investing in Cambium’s range of high-performance Wi-Fi solutions, service providers will benefit from cloud SaaS, cloud network management, a, business management, monetisation and customisation tools at zero cost,” says Teresa Huysamen, Wireless Business Unit Executive at Duxbury Networking, local distributors of Cambium technology.
Huysamen points out some of the challenges that exist to reaching a solution:
Deployment –
Deploying Wi-Fi is hard
Lack of skilled technicians
Different tools and methods
Finding the best location.
Monetisation –
Monetisation is difficult
No ‘one size fits all’ hotspots
Customised promotions
Payment integration.
Visibility –
Expensive analytics tools
Complicated API integration
Not enough details
Requires business management.
Facebook Express Wi-Fi provides the tools to deploy Wi-Fi hotspots in emerging markets with low availability of Internet access. The combined power of Express Wi-Fi and Cambium Networks cnMaestro™ cloud management simplifies deployment, dramatically lowers cost, and supports multi-tiered business models tailored to individual use cases.
Facebook Express Wi-Fi is an end-to-end SaaS (Software as a Service) platform for launching and operating a sustainable, high-quality Wi-Fi network that enables one to:
Achieve better utilisation and profitability from an innovative portfolio of monetisation levers
Leverage machine learning (ML) and advanced analytics for optimal network deployment
Access an ecosystem of hardware that supports Express Wi-Fi – off-the-shelf.
It is built as a cloud-native SaaS platform, allowing lessons learned and feature developments from anywhere in the Express Wi-Fi community to become immediately available for the benefit of everyone in the community.
How does Facebook Express Wi-Fi work?
With Express Wi-Fi, Facebook works with a variety of partners in an expanding ecosystem of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), ISPs and satellite providers. The goal of these partnerships is to provide low-cost and fast internet access by providing a comprehensive Wi-Fi platform that partners can leverage to better build, operate, grow and monetise internet access over Wi-Fi in a sustainable and scalable way.
End users join the Wi-Fi Express Wi-Fi network via a slick and intuitive interface that is customisable and allows the partner/ISP to place ads on the interface for indirect monetisation or provide the ability to pay for the network usage to directly monetise the network via data packs.
For service providers, Express Wi-Fi also provide a range of tools both on the SaaS interface and via mobile and technician apps that help provide analytics and management.
“Cambium has taken the guesswork out of monetisation in public Wi-Fi environments by certifying the interoperability of Express Wi-Fi with Cambium wireless infrastructure. The joint solution is quick to set up and delivers a great, reliable Wi-Fi experience to end users,” says Huysamen.
Benefits of the Cambium Networks Wi-Fi solution
Zero cost to evaluate the solution. Any service provider can sign up at cloud.cambiumnetworks.com and start working with cnMaestro.
Affordable. No cost, no licence fee, no recurring fee for ongoing network management of an XWF hotspot network up to 10 000 access points.
Extensible to interface with an existing Open Broadcaster Software (OBSS) that may be in use by a service provider or network operator. Multi-tenant features, RESTful API, enhanced reporting and >10 000 devices management are available through an affordable subscription fee.
Flexible. Multiple indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi access points give the service provider flexibility to choose the optimal product for the use case.
Backed by technical support and hardware warranty – outdoor access points include a three-year hardware warranty at no additional cost.
Easily acquired through global distributors with local representatives in each region.
More than 40 000 Cambium Networks Express Wi-Fi by Facebook access points across the globe.
Express Wi-Fi Cambium Networks solution allows users, business owners and service providers to:
Build:
Smart phone application to test network
Comprehensive toolkit to plan, deploy and test
Operate:
Network planning platform to monitor and manage your network in real-time
Business and sales monitoring.
Grow:
Analytics-driven business intelligence
Identify new segments and opportunity
Execute sales initiative for growth.
Monetise:
Consumer facing tools
Leverage a portfolio of monetisation levers.
Use purpose-built Wi-Fi access points
Optimise site selection:
Machine learning driven site selection based on people density, Wi-Fi density
Guided installation app for any installer or contracted installer (repeatable installation)
Plan strategic investment before CAPEX outlay.
“Cambium Networks is the only wireless vendor with a unified, cloud-managed wireless fabric portfolio of solutions that provides reliable, scalable, affordable and easy-to-manage connectivity that snaps in to work with embedded systems. With millions of modules deployed, the Cambium cloud-managed, multi-gigabit wireless fabric of solutions is proven to deliver performance, security and low total cost of ownership (TCO). Users benefit from quick and intuitive access to fast, reliable and affordable Wi-Fi. Business owners experience increased foot traffic in and around buildings, and create a new revenue source by selling data packs,” says Huysamen.