Small Cell Project Successfully Tested in Rural Vermont

May 2, 2013

A five-mile test of rural small-cell wireless system has been completed by CoverageCo, a wholesale service provider. The Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) has provided funding for CoverageCo to build nearly 90 miles of wholesale cell service in a number of the state-designated target corridors where little or no service currently exists.

VTA is purchasing the necessary equipment, which CoverageCo will lease. The company has expressed the intention to invest its own capital in building 125 additional service miles beyond the 90-mile VTA project.

The test is a standard process before commercially launching a new network, and the technology passed for voice, text and data.

CoverageCo works with existing cellular providers through industry-standard roaming agreements, and its network offers compatibility with both the major technologies, CDMA and GSM, in use today through existing consumer phones.

An alternative to the traditional model of cell towers, the CoverageCo net and is made up of micro sites, unobtrusive, low-power base stations mounted about a mile apart on utility poles already in place along roadways or other existing structures.

CoverageCo, which is a subsidiary of Vanu Inc. uses latest generation of Vanu products, the CompactRAN, which is a complete cellular base station in a sealed all-weather outdoor enclosure the size of a ream of paper. A software-defined radio that uses Internet Protocol, the CompactRAN is software upgradeable to future technologies can use an Internet connection for backhaul to the core network.

The next step is building additional service on this and other Corridors for commercial launch within the next two months. Expansion will continue throughout the year.