RCR Wireless reports that Wi-Fi equipment developer Firetide won a contract to supply the eastern portion of Singapore with its mesh Wi-Fi gear. The island nation plans to blanket itself with free Wi-Fi (Maps of Coverage Areas) at speeds of 512 kilobits per second for virtually all of the country’s 4.4 million residents.
Firetide said its Wi-Fi network will cover about one-third of the country. Singapore’s government has not yet announced which companies will supply the remaining two-third of the country’s population with Wi-Fi access.
Firetide’s Wi-Fi buildout is scheduled to be finished within one year. It is partnering with Singapore-based iCell Network to construct the nationwide network. ICell is one of Singapore’s largest Internet service providers and operates more than 300 public hot spots.
Firetide said Singapore’s Wi-Fi network is being designed and built to support high-speed data and video transmissions as well as high-speed Internet access.
ICell’s chief executive, Ken Chua, said, “Although the initial goal is to provide basic free Wi-Fi Internet access, we are actually building a high-capacity wireless network that will be delivering even more services and applications in the future… such as high speed broadband access, Voice over IP and voice over Wi-Fi, and live video surveillance.”
Firetide’s mesh nodes are decoupled from the company’s access points.
Firetide’s HotView Controller (pdf ) software enables users to roam across many mesh networks. Though Firetide didn’t disclose the financial terms of its contract, the company did announced that it will supply iCell with more than 1,000 nodes and access points.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced Singapore’s Wi-Fi plans in October, pledging to subsidize the first $30 million of the estimated $100 million cost of the network to be built by iCell and two other ISPs.
.gif)
