By Emmanuel Elebeke
World’s leading provider of WiMAX and wireless broadband solutions, Alvarion Limited has announced that it has been chosen by Mobitel Nigeria to provide 802.16e WiMAX services for under-served areas throughout Nigeria.

Using Alvarion’s BreezeMAX solution in the 2.0 GHz, 2.2 GHz and 2.3 GHz frequency bands, Mobitel will begin to offer voice and high-bandwidth data services to thousands of residences and businesses nationwide, with the key cities of Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Warri and Abuja being start points.

About 20,000 subscribers are expected on the network during the initial rollout launch of the WiMAX network scheduled for third quarter of 2009. As part of the agreement between the two companies,

Alvarion will also provide a range of professional services including system integration, network deployment, field maintenance, configuration, training and local support services to ensure successful delivery of the network.

According to a statement made available to vanguard by Avarion, Mobitel  President,  Johnson Salako said “This is a great opportunity for Mobitel to bring broadband services to remote parts of the country.

The use of WiMAX technology together with our existing fixed line network allows us the possibility to offer converged services to our customers.”

He stated further that “WiMAX provides a very good business case to roll out broadband infrastructure with a much lower upfront investment when compared to other technologies available in the market. Given our ambitious goal for Nigeria, we need a strong and reliable partner with a proven track record to ensure our success and we believe Alvarion is best suited to accomplish this.”

During the second phase of the project, he said Mobitel and Alvarion will expand coverage to 18 other states in the country, including Kano, Kaduna, Oyo and Edo. The current population of Nigeria is estimated at 150 million people in 66 provinces with a very low internet penetration rate of less than one percent.

Responding, President and CEO of Alvarion, Tzvika Friedman said “We are very pleased to be selected by Mobitel for this contract. This will reiterate Alvarion’s leading position in the WiMAX market with a strong portfolio of WiMAX solutions.”

“Being selected by an innovative operator as Mobitel is another proof point of Alvarion’s strength in emerging markets as we continue to focus on abundant opportunities in these underserved regions.  Our proven WiMAX solution and feature rich offering will enable a sound business case for Mobitel to bring advanced broadband services to consumers and businesses in Nigeria,” he stated.

Mobitel is a pioneering provider of telecommunications services in Nigeria. Wholly acquired by a consortium led by Omni Ventures in 2008, Mobitel offers fixed and wireless voice, data and value-added services focusing on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and high-end consumers across Nigeria.

Mobitel maintains nationwide frequency spectrum allocations and a set of licenses that can be converted into a unified access service license. While, Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) is the largest WiMAX pure-player with the most extensive WiMAX customer base and over 250 commercial deployments around the globe. Committed to growing the WiMAX market, the company offers solutions for a wide range of frequency bands supporting a variety of business cases. Through its OPEN WiMAX strategy, superior IP and OFDMA know-how, and ability to deploy end-to-end turnkey WiMAX projects.