Western Province network upgrades. Photo: bmobile-vodafone.

[Via Satellite 05-25-2016] Bmobile-vodafone Solomon Islands has selected SpeedCast International to upgrade its cellular backhaul network to support 3G data services in the Solomon Islands. The new network will double the current capacity to support 2G and 3G voice and data services.

SpeedCast is deploying this service through O3b Network’s high throughput, low latency satellite network, which has been used for all data services on the island since 2014. The solution will support the upgrade of existing 2G services to a new mobile 3G network for the three main urban areas of the Western Province on the Solomon Islands, known for their fishing, factories, tourism and logging trades.

This network upgrade comes as the demand for new 3G data services in the Solomon Islands has increased significantly over the last year. SpeedCast’s cellular backhaul solution will enable bmobile-vodafone to respond to increasing data requirements, as well as form a base for future network upgrades, which are expected in order to keep up with the increasing cellular data traffic.