QUEBEC, Quebec, June 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NuRAN Wireless Inc. (“NuRAN Wireless” or the “Company”) (CSE:NUR) (OTC:NRRWF) (FSE:1RN) is pleased to announce the signature of an agreement with Africa Mobile Networks (“AMN”), a wholesale mobile operator, to supply its rural 2G radio access network (RAN) solutions for a minimum of five countries with the potential of expanding to 13 additional countries.
This agreement represents a potential of over 3,000 sites to be deployed in the initial five countries and can grow substantially with the additional projected 13 countries. This represents the first substantial agreement for NuRAN on the OC-2G product.
Africa Mobile Networks is a group of companies organised with its corporate head office in the UK and subsidiary operating companies in several sub-Saharan African countries. Africa Mobile Networks Ltd is a UK-registered company and it has the controlling share of each of the local operating companies. AMN plans on investing over $0.55 billion USD in network infrastructure assets over 3 years as a mix of debt and equity.
The agreement stipulates that NuRAN will supply the OC-2G, a GSM basestation that was developed by NuRAN, and contributed to the Telecom Infra Project’s OpenCellular initiative. The OC-2G’s commercial availability was announced in November of 2017 and has since undergone trials with multiple Tier One operators around the world. This agreement is the first of many anticipated agreements to be announced over the coming year. The selection of NuRAN for deployment in such an important number of countries is a testament to Company’s leading position as a supplier of mobile infrastructure solutions for rural and ultra rural and remote markets.
OC-2G, along with its larger sibling, the NuRAN LiteCell, are both members of the LiteRAN 2G solution and are the result of NuRAN’s uncompromised engineering work to push existing barriers and redefine the economics of connectivity. LiteRAN 2G is currently recognized for delivering carrier quality of service and reliability, yet being so accessible that connecting even the smallest and most remote communities may be done sustainably.
“We have selected NuRAN solutions to deploy our network in these countries for its ability to deliver carrier-grade performance with outstandingly low total cost of ownership”, stated Michael Darcy, CEO of Africa Mobile Networks. “We have been running live networks with NuRAN equipment for over a year now, and have experienced levels of reliability we would expect of tier-one vendors”, Darcy added.
Bringing connectivity to rural Africa is key for a number of reasons. Financial inclusion is foremost on many people’s minds and giving these rural communities in these initial 5 countries connectivity for the first time is going to allow for financial inclusion and autonomy. According to the most recent GSMA figures, Sub-Saharan Africa has 338.1 Million active mobile wallets being offered through 135 services offerings that are processing 1.2 Billion transactions with a combined value of $20 Billion USD. Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments is a driving force in the urgency to bring connectivity to these communities and can have a profound impact on these communities.
“Financial Inclusion provides a community with the necessary tools to achieve so much. I recall seeing first-hand how lives were changed during the initial phase of installs in MPESA in Kenya. I can see this trend being repeated in more and more communities around Africa. The key goal is to ensure that everyone has access to communications and all that it brings. We are embarking on an exciting journey connecting the unconnected in Africa in particular and around the world. I am very pleased to be working with such great partners at the Telecom Infra Project and with Africa Mobile Networks in particular” stated Martin Bedard, CEO, NuRAN Wireless.
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.
About Africa Mobile Networks
AMN’s mission is to build mobile network base stations serving rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa which have no existing service, providing mobile network operators with a capex-free route to add new subscribers and new revenues and with incremental costs. The vision of AMN is a fully-connected Africa, with no community of any significant size being without basic telecommunications services to deliver social, economic, educational and other benefits to the population. For more information contact AMN at info@africamobilenetworks.com
About NuRAN Wireless
NuRAN Wireless is a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions. Its innovative radio access network (RAN), core network, and backhaul products dramatically drop the total cost of ownership, thereby creating new opportunities for established, as well as emerging mobile network operators. Indoor coverage, isolated rural communities, offshore platforms and ships, NuRAN Wireless helps its customers reach everyone, everywhere.
For further information about NuRAN Wireless or Nutaq Innovations;
www.nuranwireless.com or www.nutaq.com
Martin Bédard
Presidents and CEO
info@nuranwireless.com
(418) 914-7484
Frank Candido
Direct Financial Strategies and Communication
directmtl@gmail.com
(514) 969-5530
US Investor Contact
Trevor Brucato
Managing Director
RB Milestone Group, LLC
Stamford, CT & New York, NY
www.rbmilestone.com
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of NuRAN Wireless to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include: the Company’s quest to connect the next billion; that this strategic acquisition allows Nuran to offer a complete mobile and broadband solution and the ability to secure the Nuran solution as the leader in rural and remote mobile connectivity, that the acquisition reinforces NuRAN’s strategic positioning towards new and small operators by offering an end-to-end mobile small-cell network solution with the lowest Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO) on the market and that the acquisition will allow NuRAN the opportunity to bring cellular coverage to emerging market where the return on investment (ROI) was previously simply too low. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to: the ability of NurRAN Wireless to obtain necessary financing; general economic conditions in Canada and globally; competition for, among other things, capital and skilled personnel; our ability to hire and retain qualified employees and key management personnel; possibility that government policies or laws may change; possible disruptive effects of organizational or personnel changes; technological change, new products and standards; risks related to acquisitions and international expansion; reliance on large customers; reliance on a limited number of suppliers; risks related to the Company’s competition; failure to integrate the technology and assets acquired from the Vendors and the Company’s failure to adequately protect its intellectual property; interruption or failure of information technology systems and other risk factors described in the Company’s reports filed on SEDAR), including its financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2015, and those referred to under the heading “Risk Factors”. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing NuRAN Wireless’ views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.