Please see corresponding blog http://blog.eComm.ec

2. A Telephone System for the
Next Three Billion
David A. Burgess, CTO
Range Networks, Inc.
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3. 40% OF THE WORLD CANNOT AFFORD BASIC SERVICE
$6 ARPU FLOOR IN A WORLD THAT LIVES ON $3/DAY
3

4. PSTN public switched te
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public data network or IS
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digital network = the wor
Problem: GSM NSS - network sub-syste
architecture is
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MS - mobile station,
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talks to the &"'$
BTS
?((
BTS - base transceiv
! "#$%&'()%$)*(*($+%,-%*#$%.'+$%/*'*(,)%/0+*$&%12(*#%*#$%3,44$+5,)6()7%-8)3*(,)+9%'4$: BCD
; ."/:%%.'+$%"4')+3$(<$4%/*'*(,) tower” talks to the BS
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= B,7(3'?%@#'))$?%A')'7$&$)* BSC - base station c
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reformats voice and d
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more or less bandwid
HALF OF THE COST IS IN THE BACKING NETWORK - cell broadcast
CBC ! "#$%&"'()*+,-.&#/,-.).0&$,1)2.,3
CORE NETWORK AND TRANSMISSION: MSC, BSC, VLR/HLR, T1/E1, MICROWAVE, SS7, ETC.
short messages to a
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4

5. HALF OF THE REST IS “CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE”
WHICH IS MOSTLY ABOUT POWER AT THE BTS SITE
5

6. Try Something Different
Get full site well below 100 W and run solar.
Flatten the core network (up to 50% savings).
Beyond SIGTRAN and Abis-over-IP: pure VoIP.
Commodity IP switching equipment.
Open source and commodity core systems.
Peer-to-peer call processing.
6

7. New Approach: OpenBTS
Network-side GSM stack with direct SIP/RTP
network interface.
Very portable; based on SDR and generic digital
radio.
No BSCs. No MSCs.
Through OpenBTS, 2G handsets appear to
VoIP network as SIP endpoints.
Through OpenBTS, VoIP network appears to
handsets as a normal GSM carrier.
7

8. Photos from recent Range Networks install
A WORKING SYSTEM TODAY
FIRST CALL IN 2008, 2G IN PILOT TESTS NOW, GPRS IN 2010, 3G IN 2011.
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9. OpenBTS: GPL Cellular
Open source project with active of contributors.
Copyrights assigned to FSF in October 2008;
public releases under GPLv3 via GNU Radio.
Private licensing & CLA similar to Asterisk/Digium.
>100 developer kits out there (more than Vanu!)
June workshop in Bavaria.
9

10. BURNING MAN 2008 & 2009
OPEN-AIR TEST RANGE WITH >20K HANDSETS. AND A LOT OF FUN.
10

11. OPENBTS CALL PATHS, BLACK ROCK CITY 2009
GSM TO OPENBTS TO ASTERISK TO VOIP CARRIERS TO “THE DEFAULT WORLD”.
11

12. TELECOM NIUE 2010
PILOT NETWORK WITH A TELCO; <<$250K GSM FOR 1,400 PEOPLE, 3,000 VISITORS.
12

13. NIUE’S LEGACY NETWORK
ANALOG SWITCH, DS1 & IP SATELLITE
13

14. TWO-WEEK ON-SITE INSTALLATION
HIGH-PROFILE PROJECT; LOCAL SUPPLIES & KNOW-HOW
14

15. WHY LICENSING CAN BE A GOOD THING.
TECHNICAL CHALLENGE: IUSN’S REGION-2-STYLE 900 MHZ JAMS GSM-900 UPLINK.
15

16. OPENBTS CALL PATHS, NIUE 2010
GSM TO OPENBTS TO ASTERISK TO SKYPE VIA SATELLITE: NIUE TO US/UK FOR NEARLY FREE.
16

17. DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE
FULLY-AUTOMATED PROVISIONING AT BURNING MAN VS. HUMAN CONTACT IN NIUE
17

18. 4 KM TO ALOFI
NIUE SPEECH COVERAGE ESTIMATES
WILL IMPROVE WHEN 900 MHZ INTERFERENCE IS FIXED
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19. What Next?
Airliners, ships & oil platforms
Coal mines, industrial sites
Disaster areas, relief camps
“Forward operating areas”
Small telcos all over the
world
Large-scale rural networks
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20. Thanks to...
Harvind Samra, Glenn Edens
John Gilmore and our other contributors
Free Software Foundation
Software Freedom Law Center
Voxbone, Verizon
Taiichi Fox, Tim Panton, Gov’t of Niue
Lee Dryburgh
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21. At Range Networks we believe that every individual on
the planet should have access to affordable wireless
communications services. Communications is key to
improving quality of life - freedom, health, education,
economic well being, social participation and happiness.
We provide the world’s lowest cost, sustainable, full
featured GSM infrastructure, providing voice, messaging
and data services for a wide range of applications and
environments. Systems that are easy to install, own and
operate.
WWW.RANGENETWORKS.COM
WWW.OPENBTS.ORG
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