Cutting the Cost of Communications

Background
Altobridge is an R&D-focused, wireless network solutions provider. Its founding vision was to remove the technical and commercial barriers that denied remote communities aordable mobile voice and internet connectivity. Since its creation in 2002, Altobridge has designed, patented and commercially deployed technology innovations that have bridged the digital divide; breakthrough solutions that now enable mobile network operators, particularly in low and lowermiddle income nations, to aordably connect unconnected communities. In its early years, Altobridge developed and commercially deployed the solutions behind the worlds rst commercial GSM service on board passenger aircraft, and the worlds rst commercial deployment of GSM connectivity on board deep-sea merchant maritime vessels globally.

Connecting the Unconnected

Advancing from these breakthroughs, Altobridge focused its resources on solving the technical and commercial barriers that prevented mobile network operators from costeectively extending their networks, beyond their urban strongholds, to population centres in rural and remote regions throughout emerging markets - communities yet to reap the social and economic benets of mobile connectivity. Today, 1.6 billion adults 23% of the worlds population globally - are not connected to a mobile network. In SubSaharan Africa, rural mobile penetration rates are below 10% in most cases.* Altobridge has set about removing the three greatest barriers that mobile network operators face in terms of rural and remote network expansion, namely: (1) the capital costs involved in deploying traditional infrastructure, such as 30+ metre telecoms towers, which operators perceive to be pre-requisite for rural deployment; (2) the operational costs required to drive power-hungry base station transceivers; (3) the monthly transmission costs (the backhaul costs) incurred to deliver voice calls and mobile data trac to and from users devices.
*GSM Association 2010, Informa Telecoms & Media 2010

Altobridge has achieved this through a series of patented and patent-pending technologies, namely, Altobridge Data-atthe-Edge (data optimization in wireless networks), Local Connectivity (local voice switching) and Split Architecture (transmission and power optimization). These technologies, individually and combined, drive down communications delivery costs for mobile network operators by reducing backhaul and power consumption costs. For instance, the Altobridge lite-site requires only 4kbps of bandwidth per active voice call, while Local Connectivity switches local calls at the remote site base station, thereby completely eliminating backhaul for local calls. At 90 Watt average power consumption per site, solar-power sourced, and with a coverage radius of up to 10km, the Altobridge lite-site is the most powerecient and operationally cost-ecient solution for remote community connectivity in its class.

Today, the Altobridge lite-site has delivered rst-time mobile connectivity to hundreds of remote communities across Niger, Kenya, Malaysian Borneo, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Pacic Island communities.

Mobile Broadband
Altobridge Data-at-the-Edge: existing and next generation mobile networks are experiencing a bombardment of new data-capable and data-hungry broadband devices e.g. smart phones, net books, tablets, 3G USB dongles etc. The increasing consumer demand for data services via mobile devices is creating bottlenecks and congestion in networks globally. Signicant progress is being made to improve data eciency by introducing higher throughput wireless networks such as 3G, LTE, etc. However, one of the main barriers to cost-eective broadband access over mobile networks is the eective use of the links from operators core networks to their radio base stations. Altobridge has developed an innovative and unique solution that addresses the problem of mobile data network congestion. By maximizing the bandwidth eciency of operators existing network infrastructure, Altobridge Data-at-the-Edge reduces mobile data backhaul requirements by at least 30%.

Altobridge is a privately held company. Shareholders include its employees, Intel Capital, IFC and Enterprise Ireland. For further information, please contact:

Gerry Collins Head of Business Development Email: gerry.collins@altobridge.com Olof Lindberg VP Worldwide Sales Email: olof.lindberg@altobridge.com

Kerry Technology Park, Tralee, Co. Kerry Ireland T + 353 66 719 0210 E info@altobridge.com

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www.altobridge.com