Reliable communications infrastructure is taken for granted by those in large urban centres. The difficulty securing reliable internet and phone services in regional and remote areas is often a limiting factor for new infrastructure projects and a cap on a community’s engagement in the modern world’s growing digital society and economy.
Australian Private Networks (APN) is working to close the digital divide between metro and regional by delivering WiFi internet and phone communications infrastructure to some of Australia’s most remote communities.
Kalumburu Community, on the remote Northern tip of Western Australia, is one of the most recent communities to benefit from APN’s community-wide WiFi and phone solutions.
With limited access to residential internet services, the community has relied on patchy mobile coverage and communal internet at community buildings. APN has designed, installed, and is now maintaining, community-wide WiFi and phone services for Kalumburu, providing residents and visitors alike with free access to WiFi right across town.
Twelve towers ranging in height from 1.2m to 20m installed across the community extend external WiFi coverage from one end of town to the other. A further access point at the Kalumburu Aerodrome north of the township, provides WiFi coverage to incoming and outgoing travellers. In addition, 126 houses and community buildings have indoor WiFi coverage through a receiver installed on their roofs.
The indoor WiFi transmitters also provide the ability to connect a standard telephone handset, which runs through a community-wide phone PBX telephone solution, much like you’d find in a hotel or motel room.
The internet phone (VoIP) service provides each household with the ability to make free, extension-to-extension calls within the community, plus the ability to make free calls to external national landline numbers and mobile phones.
Modular and scalable solutions
The town-wide solution utilises four APN satellite internet services controlled by a Site Management Controller (SMC) and remotely monitored by APN to ensure network performance and voice quality.
This versatile solution is modular and scalable, with additional APN backhaul bandwidth able to be doubled without any further hardware required. This can be accomplished remotely, if needed, to support increased future bandwidth requirements.
Additional internal receivers can also be installed to support new residences, and APN can install more towers to extend the outdoor WiFi mesh network coverage further out of the community if required in the future. Organisations can configure the community-wide service for other uses, such as on-site communications, employee accommodation, or connectivity to isolated places of interest.
Customised for unique requirements
Based in Melbourne, APN is an Australian-owned-and-operated specialist in regional and remote communications that has been at the forefront of new advances in remote Australian communications for nearly 20 years.
In addition to community-wide services, APN offers a range of solutions to facilitate reliable internet and phone communications anywhere in Australia. These can be for long or short-term applications, including portable satellite services mounted to a vehicle, trailer, modular building, or even set up on a standalone mount. APN’s portable service offers remote connectivity that is transportable anywhere you need it.
Connectivity solutions are not one-size-fits-all for town communications infrastructure or remote work sites. APN works closely with customers well before any equipment is supplied to develop the most agile mix of portable and fixed solutions possible to best meet each client’s unique requirements.
Learn more about APN’s remote communications solutions at www.apn.net.au or by contacting its Corporate Solutions team on (03) 8566 8312 or corporatesales@apn.net.au.
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by Australian Private Networks. For more information, visit www.apn.net.au.
