Serving eight traditional native communities and the petroleum industry on the North Slope of Alaska with next-generation services
Boca Raton, FL, March 3, 2010 – Airspan Networks Inc., a leading provider of broadband wireless access networks, announced today that Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative (ASTAC), an Alaskan telecommunications company, has purchased Airspan’s advanced technology WiMAX equipment through systems integrator Stutler Technologies Corp.
Utilizing Airspan’s WiMAX solution, ASTAC provides Alaska’s North Slope communities and industries with a true broadband experience, enabling homes and businesses to access highspeed Internet, carrier class Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and nomadic capabilities. Serving Alaskans with telecommunications can often be challenging due the natural topography and severe weather conditions. Airspan provides WiMAX equipment that communicates over wide distances and can endure extreme weather temperatures, making this WiMAX solution ideal for ASTAC and their customers. ASTAC owns the largest 700 MHz license in Alaska. With Airspan’s 700 MHz MicroMAX WiMAX base station, ASTAC is able to leverage the license and deploy a broadband solution whose propagation characteristics allow for miles of broadband coverage – serving customers up to 30 miles away from a Base Station. Based in a unique environment, ASTAC serves not only homes and traditional businesses, but also serves demanding customers such as the petroleum industry and global warming research centers.
“ASTAC has been serving the Prudhoe Bay oil field area with Airspan equipment for over 4 years. With harsh weather conditions, limited wired infrastructure and often only seasonal ice road access, companies on the slope have limited broadband access options. Working with Stutler Technologies to deploy Airspan equipment, ASTAC is able to continuously provide faster, more reliable broadband wireless services to these companies,” commented Charlie Carpenter, Chief Network Officer of ASTAC.
“We have been very excited to work with ASTAC. They have some of the most challenging connectivity scenarios, but by coupling Airspan’s highly developed and mature technology with Stutler’s deployment experience, we have been able to supply ASTAC with an ideal solution to help them operate a successful business and grow their customer base,” stated J.J. Stutler, CEO of Stutler Technologies.
“Airspan solutions are built to serve a wide variety of applications. Our product portfolio serves customers operating in the 700 MHz band, as used by ASTAC, up to the 5.9 GHz band. The inherent advantages of our advanced WiMAX solutions are the extended coverage, higher speeds, mobility and triple-play applications which are gained through a solution that is modular, quick to deploy and has a low cost of ownership, maximizing ROI and minimizing expenses,” commented Amit Ancikovsky, President of Sales and Products for Airspan. “Stutler is one of our most experienced partners. Together we have addressed the needs of hundreds of operators across 44 states. We look forward to our continued shared growth.”