LTE  |  2023-02-09

NextWave And Airspan Launches “First Of Its Kind” Mission Critical Services Private Network in New York

Curated by: Gert Jan Wolf - Editor-in Chief for The Critical Communications Review

Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO), a provider of ground-breaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN solutions, has today announced a major deployment milestone of 120 eNodeB base stations in collaboration with NextWave’s ongoing New York Metro Private Network rollout. NextWave, a private network service provider, had recently revealed plans to leverage their Band 41 (2.5 GHz) spectrum capabilities to provide uniquely wide-area private network coverage to offer seamless high-speed mobile networking for mission-critical services.

Today’s milestone represents the continuation of the first phase of NextWave’s “first-of-its-kind” network buildout, with Airspan’s AirHarmony4000 eNodeB units taking a prominent role in providing the 4G LTE component of wide-area coverage to the private network that will reach nearly 15m people later in 2023. The AirHarmony product line’s well-proven capabilities in the Band 41 range, among others, made Airspan a well-suited RAN partner to fully capitalize on NextWave’s valuable 50 MHz of bandwidth.

Airspan draws upon extensive in-depth experience developing RAN systems to address the growing private network market across a variety of use cases, including indoor and outdoor, 5G and combined 4G+5G solutions. NextWave’s New York Metro service is one of the first private networks to prioritize seamless transitions between in-facility 5G coverage and urban 4G+5G transportation channels This will allow private network users to maintain high levels of security and performance, even when they leave their facility, with the added value of this spectrum being supported by popular smartphones and other widely available mobile broadband devices.