Listen to this articleBaicells Technologies is a global provider for cloud-based 4G/5G wireless solutions. Below is our recent interview with Rich Harnish, CMO at Baicells Technologies:
Q: Can you tell us something more about Baicells Technologies and what you do?
Rich Harnish: Our vision and drive is to “Connect More With Less”, using Baicells innovative solutions to connect the unconnected half of the world. Baicells leverages cutting-edge 4G/5G technologies such as virtualized RAN, CloudCore, and Distributed Massive MIMO, etc. From the core network, base station, UE device, SIM card, antennas, to the UPS, Baicells is becoming a one-stop shop for most smaller operators around the world. With Baicells’ solutions, customer can build an end-to-end 4G/5G network with a complete IT-based open architecture.
Furthermore, Baicells is providing its total solution to many rural operators in the world, including Africa, Europe, Middle East, North America, LATAM, and South East Asia. Additionally, Baicells is a research partner with Facebook on its Telecom Infra Project (TIP), China Mobile, Vodafone, and Reliance Jio for the O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network), to launch more cost-effective solutions for the telecom industry eco-system.
Q: What is the challenge for carriers and solution providers?
Rich Harnish: When we contemplate rural coverage, conventional wireless access technologies are often not sustainable for remote areas. When carriers and solution providers try to set up networks to connect residents in more remote areas, they find most current products are cost-prohibitive and very difficult to maintain; Typically in these markets, customer-based revenues are lower than carriers’ standard expectations. Therefore, it’s understandable why most carriers and solution providers are not financially motivated to provide service in sparsely populated areas. Limited network availability prevents over half of the world’s population from getting reliable internet access. Baicells sees this dilemma as an opportunity to develop affordable, innovative LTE equipment and systems which enable cost justifiable and profitable remote deployments.
On the other hand, even in the urban areas, carriers still face challenges of increasing network CAPEX and OPEX for only incremental increases in revenue. Bringing new concepts like OpenRAN/O-RAN, enable further cost reductions and operators can benefit from developing value-added services on top of it. Baicells develops the whole 4G/5G system with a foundation built on Open and IT based infrastructure to support the future convergence of internet and telecommunications.
Q: Why LTE? What are the benefits compared to other standards?
Rich Harnish: The major reason is the maturity of the wireless telecommunication eco-system. Building a network with standards-based equipment with superior propagation characteristics such as LTE, allows more people to connect to it. Affordability and availability of the LTE end user devices (UE) are key to bring more people on the internet.
The second reason is demand. Neither 2G or 3G could support the present data era driven demand and 4G LTE is the only option to bring a good data connection to the people. 5G NR is the next step in LTE evolution which is proving to be exciting. WiFi is another option but due to the superior NLOS performance, operability, and multi-user performance, LTE is considered as a better option.
Q: Can you give us insight into your products?
Rich Harnish: Our LTE products are characterized by three factors.
First is simplicity. With our advanced plug-and-play features, Baicells can serve the entire end to end solution to small efficient rural and suburban operators around the globe. Baicells designs our products so a person with basic WiFi knowledge is capable of deploying and configuring Baicells eNB/gNB.
The second factor is Baicells’ rich portfolio. Baicells has developed many hardware options including outdoor/indoor, different power levels, and broad spectrum options. These options give our operators a variety of choices to choose from to select the best product that fits their specific scenario. At the same time, the software is based on the same platform so that the customer could still enjoy the same level of simplicity across all hardware options.
Last but not least, is openness. Baicells designs all its solutions based on IT standards with the fully virtualized solution. This helps the customer to be more flexible to upgrade their network and enable the mobile edge computing in a cost-effective way.
Q: What are the company’s plans and goals for the future?
Rich Harnish: Baicells has the vision of “Connect More With Less”.
From technology point of view, Baicells will be always innovating and investing in cutting-edge technologies. We will make sure, we are always developing the best suitable solution options for the telecom industry.
From business point of view, Baicells is dedicated to connecting more people and bringing more features to the networks. Rural broadband coverage is very important to us and we are expanding our open architecture to more areas globally.
Another market we will be focusing on is the vertical industries. Private 4G/5G networks are becoming increasingly important to the enterprise market and Baicells is poised to fill that need.
This new decade promises to be very exciting for Baicells Technologies and the millions of people that will be connected to the Internet for the first time. Bringing broadband to the un-connected is one of the most satisfying achievements we can hope for.
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