Information and communication technology group Huawei has partnered with the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to deploy its RuralStar Pro solution, enabling connectivity for an estimated 3.4-million people in 172 rural areas.

More than 2 000 RuralStar sites will be deployed, increasing Ghana’s mobile coverage rate from 83% to 95%.

“This will give an enormous boost to the local economy,” says GIFEC CEO Abraham Kofi Asante.

Over 400 RuralStar sites have already been deployed and are generating revenue, through the provision of mobile broadband services to rural areas with a population smaller than 500.

GIFEC is responsible for the construction and local operators will run the service, with profits split between them. A return on investment is expected in less than three years.

“About 600-million people in the world still have no access to mobile connectivity, and the RuralStar Pro solution could provide connections for these uncovered areas at the optimal cost and fastest speed,” says Huawei wireless network site product line president David Guo.

This solution integrates a baseband unit, a remote radio unit and a relay device into a single module. The power consumption of each site is less than 120 W.

The head of a village can deploy it independently and have an engineer configure it remotely.

This significantly reduces the end-to-end cost of deployment, with more simplified network equipment and decreased infrastructure costs.

The RuralStar Pro solution was launched in 2020, following the development of a series of rural network solutions, including the initial RuralStar and the subsequent RuralStar Lite, which guarantee profitable deployment in different rural network scenarios.

“In the three years since its initial launch, Huawei’s RuralStar solution has been continuously evolving and Huawei is committed to sustained innovation to bring digital services to every person, home and organisation,” says Guo.

The RuralStar range has been deployed in over 50 countries, providing connectivity to more than 40-million people worldwide.

In 2017, Huawei unveiled RuralStar, its innovative rural network solution that reduces network deployment costs by more than 50% and makes it possible for operators to profit from rural networks that serve remote areas with a population of over 1 000.

The initial RuralStar solution transforms microwave or satellite transmissions used in traditional rural network solutions into relay remote node wireless backhaul, towers into simple poles and diesel generators into clean, green solar energy.

By 2019, Huawei had launched RuralStar Lite, which allows all equipment to be installed on a pole, eliminating the need to build fences or install cabinets.