Opening Statement: Cellular Internet Access - The answer to Digital Divide

Novatel Communications was founded in Cork in 2007 and continues to be Cork based with a national presence. Novatel is the approved distributor for Poynting antennas in Ireland.

Both Poynting Antennas and Novatel, together we have thousands of happy customers, we believe that Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is the true answer to overcome the Digital Divide in Ireland. We believe it to be the most cost-effective way to provide all Ireland’s population, regardless of where they live, equal opportunity to learn, to work and to be closer to information and to their loved ones. Because FWA is capable of such achievements, it must be perceived as a vehicle for economic growth and one which will help closing the gap on digital inequality. This pandemic proved that people were, and many still are, in need of faster and more reliable internet. FWA is the fastest way to do it. Fixed Wireless access is a technology which is used to provide broadband connectivity without the need to install any wires. It relies solely on broadly available cellular technologies, like 4G or 5G. How can anyone get connected? It’s fairly simple: 1. Get a SIM card with a Data Plan, from a provider who provides service in your area of choice; 2. Get a cellular router, say 4G or 5G, and an external antenna – the external antenna is of paramount importance 3. Setup the router and install the antenna up on your rooftop. If you have any doubt on how to do it, better option is to rely on a certified installing company like Novatel or any of their partners. 4. Once all set, you can enjoy your new internet connection, which shall be more stable, more reliable and more consistent, provided that you do it with the right external antenna to ensure this.

FWA is not only good for Rural or Remote areas, there are a number of use-cases where it can be used. We don’t have the time to go in detail about it, but on top of being used in rural or remote areas, it also finds use cases in temporary demand, in urban areas, in IoT projects or in any kind of moving vehicle (yes, including emergency vehicles). So, how is it better than any of the alternatives in the market, especially in connecting rural and regional locations? + Lower costs on deployment:

+ Cellular networks are already broadly available. In turn, last mile of wired access accounts for most of the deployment costs on such alternative, due to civil works. Satellite is also pretty expensive to setup.

+ Similar Cost on Usage:

+ Unlimited Data Plans start from 25€ p/m (approx.), which would be cheaper than fibre plans or satellite

+ Then the costs of Hardware needed for the user’s side, a very good domestic router, a very good antenna and the install, when divided by 12 or 24, make it on par with FO plans and still cheaper than Satellite. In our experience the customer is willing to pay for the equipment, and for a professional installation to get a reliable internet connection. Of course, with our solution customers can also self-install and eliminate that as a cost. If the government were in a position to subsidise the equipment, then obviously this would be a huge advantage to the customer, but it currently does not create significant issues or act as a deterrent for Irish customers. The on-going cost is so affordable that is their main concern. We are willing and ready to discuss all options, to help as many people as we can throughout Ireland.

+ All in all, FWA has the lower Total Cost of Ownership of the alternatives, if all stakeholders’ investments are taken into account

+ It is very quick to be deployed – faster time to market, proved and seen during Covid.

+ Many people already have the router in situ with the sim card, but they do not have the antenna which is crucial to the overall performance.

+ It allows for freedom of choice: All 3 providers in Ireland claim to have 99% of the Irish Population covered with 4G, according to their webpages.

+ It’s a Flexible technology: caters for a number of situations, and it’s easily upgradable for future technologies, without changing the antenna and the install.

+ High speeds: With 4G broadly available, and 5G picking up pace, cellular can provide fibre-like speeds now. For 4G, typically 50-40Mbps of download and 30Mbps of upload. 30ms of typical latencies

+ It’s a technology which has redundancy built-in: when more than a cell/tower covers an area, there’s no longer a single point of failure

+ It is a proven technology:

+ The Norwegian Government opted for it, when faced with the exact same challenge. Poynting ended up doing the project with Telenor (we’ve over 30.000 antennas installed there)

+ TDC another MNO, but now int Denmark, also offers it to their clients - over 20.000 antennas installed + In the UK, without any agreement with MNOs, we’ve over 50.000 sold in the past 2 years

+ And the list goes on, all across the world.

+ Last, but not least, if we give it a thought, it is the greener choice. A Cellular router consumes more or less the same energy (10W at peak) as a fibre one, but the fibre option has many more civil works attached, hence a bigger “environmental footprint”, if we can call it this way. Comparing to Satellite options, research shows that standard satellite hardware has an average consumption of 70W, while newer systems like Starlink, range anywhere from 100W (average) to 150W, peak! If we consider that according to “Sustainable Energy of Ireland”, in 2018, over 65% of Ireland’s energy was coming from Natural Gas, Coal or Oil, aka, polluting sources of energy, we can see how much of the difference this will make in our environment.

A significant number of Irish citizens already rely on Cellular connectivity as their main and only way to the internet, and the performance of their setups surpasses almost 10 times what they had with DSL or LOS alternatives which they were using – can’t be compared to fibre as it is non-existent for such users. We truly believe that it’s easy and fast to get more people to enjoy the same type of internet access.

CASE STUDY HOW NORWAY ADOPTED FWA AS THE PREFERRED SOLUTION TO BROADBAND

Antennas For Telenor’s Mobile Broadband-Offering to Homes Feb 13, 2020 | Case Studies, February 2020, Newsletter Articles, Urban & Rural Cellular Project Information Antennas for Telenor’s mobile broadband-offering to homes. Customer: Telenor Location: Norway Partner: EMCOM AS Poynting Product: XPOL-2-5G Email: [email protected]

Background The fixed-line network based on copper is now more than 100 years old. Originally, these copper-wires were installed to provide (fixed-line) telephony and evolved in also providing internet access. In a lot of cases, the old copper-based network no longer meets the need for speed, stability and capacity. Moreover, it is vulnerable and prone to errors and downtime. Telenor have thus decided to replace the entire old copper infrastructure with more modern and secure alternatives. The product “Hjemmebredbånd Mobil” (which translates to ‘Home broadband over mobile’ or ‘mobile broadband for homes’) launched as one of the alternatives to internet over copper.

This ‘Home broadband over mobile’ is a secure and future-proof broadband-solution to your home, delivered over the mobile network. The subscription is delivered with a new WiFi-system that provides great WiFi-coverage throughout the home. The Challenge Poorer cell-coverage in certain areas Telenor has world-class coverage on 4G/4G+. The network is very well developed and deployed, but some locations will still require a powerful external antenna to obtain a strong enough signal. In addition to challenges with signal strength in some remote locations, there are problems presented by modern materials and building techniques used when building new houses. These cases too require an external antenna to provide signal to a 4G-router. Telenor thus had a need for a solid outdoor-mount antenna that could cope with the Norwegian climate. The antenna was to have high gain, be easy to mount, and the physical design had to be compact so the impact on the house profile would be minimal. The Solution Poynting XPOL-2 4G-/5G-panel antenna Telenor asked Emcom for an antenna that could meet the criteria set forth. Emcom recommended the XPOL-2 antenna from Poynting Antennas. This antenna was already the most sold 4G panel antenna in Norway. The first version of XPOL- 2 was launched at the same time 4G was launched in 2012. The years that followed proved the XPOL-2 to be a very robust and efficient antenna that no other manufacturer has managed to come close to. Not for a lack of trying; several manufacturers have tried to copy the first version of the antenna but could not get the performance nor the ruggedness right. Later versions were patented and wholly unique. With the fast-moving world of telecommunications, Telenor was also very clear that the antenna would have to cater also for the next generation cellular network; 5G. To that end, Poynting Antennas accelerated the development of the next version XPOL-2, that also handles the frequencies 3400-3800 MHz. These bands will be used for 5G deployment to homes. In this latest version of theXPOL-2, Poynting Antennas managed to not only add a frequency range, but also increased the gain – without increasing the physical size of the chassis. Poynting Antennas managed this incredible feat by employing a technology called «Artificial Magnetic Conductors» (AMC), together with their own patented design. AMC and the design provided a significant improvement in the pattern. The radio signals are radiated as well as a significant increase in efficiency/gain. The Result Improved cell-coverage with a future-proof product With the new panel antenna from Poynting Antennas, Telenor can now offer their product to a bigger market with confidence. The antenna is supplied free of charge to those customers who need it. The supplied XPOL-2 antenna can also be used when Telenor eventually upgrade their network to 5G – the next generation mobile network. “Emcom/Poynting Antennas was the obvious choice of partner when we needed advanced antennas for our major endeavour in “fixed mobile broadband” for businesses and private households. Through the partnership we gained early access to 5G compatible antennas, which now makes us well-equipped for the future of mobile technology. Emcom/Poynting Antennas exhibits a high degree of technical expertise and a pride in recommending solutions they know customers will be satisfied with.” – Andreas K Fjeld, Telenor Norway AS

Novatel Communications Limited 24 Main Street, Buttevant, Co Cork. Company Number 647568 Managing Director Niamh Cullen O’Reilly 087 7681224 Director Frank O’Reilly 087 0575507 Phone: 022 23440 www.novatel.ie