Kyocera Provides iBurst to Kenya
Kyocera Corporation announced the commercial introduction of iBurst wireless broadband services in the Republic of Kenya, starting February 2, 2006. iBurst base stations and terminals designed and produced by Kyocera will be provided to Africa Online, the Kenyan Internet service provider (ISP). Africa Online will commence iBurst wireless broadband services in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, with plans to expand service into Mombassa, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Nanyuki. The company is targeting 20,000 subscribers within one year.
In addition to iBurst, Africa Online plans to introduce wireless VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services in 2006, offering the ability to transmit data and voice simultaneously to the areas without land lines. iBurst, which is compatible with VoIP, offers a wireless broadband Internet environment that enables users to receive data at up to 1Mbps for downlinks, while maintaining stable, high communication speed even with many simultaneous accesses.
This iBurst system has been adopted as a standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). On January 19, 2006, at the IEEE802.20 working group, iBurst was officially approved as ‘IEEE802.20 Initial Technical Specification,’ in the name of ‘MBTDD 625kMC mode’*1. By the end of 2006, the iBurst system is expected to be authorized as an official specification at IEEE802.20. Kenya will be the fourth country to offer commercial iBurst services, following Australia, South Africa, and Azerbaijan. Continue