Liberia: Rural Nation Gets First Versatile Mobile Towers of Africa

BTS is the internationally recognized abbreviation for Base Transmission Site which, in other words, is a complete GSM radio site.

Residents of Garmu, a small town to the north of Palala, are now enjoying quality connectivity on the Lonestar Cell MTN network as the result of the installation of a mobile Base Station Tower (BTS). Another mobile BTS has been installed in Yekepa, a concession town in Nimba County.

Lonestar Cell MTN's Chief of Corporate Communications Dr. Laurence Konmla Bropleh said that Lonestar Cell MTN was daring to go where no other telecommunications company would go because connecting rural Liberians would be strengthening Liberia's development in a sustainable way. Dr. Bropleh said that Liberia's journey to sustainable development cannot be assured in the absence of technology and specifically in the absence of telecommunications, for every sector of the Liberian society depends on effective communications and the use of mobile telephones. He said that having operated in Liberia for little over ten years now, Lonestar Cell MTN believes in providing effective support to the accomplishment of the vision of the Liberian government and its developmental agenda.

Mobile Base Transmission Sites revolutionizes and adopts a smarter and practical approach to react quickly to power outages on existing BTS sites, disaster areas where no GSM coverage exist and areas where the network becomes congested because of temporary events like campaigns, sporting events, etc. Lonestar Cell MTN's commitment is not to restate the challenges Liberia faces, but rather to advance solutions that would further the growth and development of the Liberian nation and provide excellent service to subscribers. The Mobile BTS consists of three separate mobile components - quick deployment mast, power house and fully equipped and configured Base Transmission Site. Many times power outages on BTS sites occur despite backup systems being installed. The Mobile power house provides a quick response time to restore power on the BTS site and shorten the length of time a site would be down and loss of communication to customers.

Another excellent advantage the Mobile BTS is its ability to provide additional capacity quickly when busy BTS sites show congestion. This is true when there is seasonal migration of customers to popular areas for holidays, like July 26, November 29, President Tubman's Birthday when the beaches are densely populated, soccer games or special events which many times can cause temporary congestion of BTS sites. The Mobile BTS offers a quick response and provides temporary action to add capacity to the BTS sites.

Currently, the Liberia government has embarked upon the implementation of Liberia Rising: Vision 2030 and President Sirleaf, as she is known to always reach out to the Liberia people, would certainly be touring the nation, visiting towns, villages, clans, chiefdoms, cities and counties. In some of those places, network coverage may not be currently available or barely available. Because Lonestar Cell MTN sees itself as a good corporate citizen and a partner in assisting the Liberian Government advance its agenda for the Liberian people, the Mobile BTS is available to provide temporary coverage in certain areas in support of these special Campaigns, events or disasters in areas where normally no requirements exist for permanent coverage.

Liberia is indeed rising, roads are being built and infrastructure being improved. Yet, there are many areas that are yet to be reached because of bad road conditions. The deployment of the Mobile BTS by Lonestar Cell MTN is being done with the customer in mind, the advancement of the government's development agenda as critical and the overall advancement of the telecommunications sector foremost.

When Lonestar Cell - MTN entered the Liberian market, it made a commitment to provide to the public, innovative telecommunications services. It can be recalled that a few months ago, Lonestar Cell MTN welcomed the landing of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine fiber optic cable in Liberia. A Public-Private initiative of the Government of Liberia supported by licensed Operators in Liberia including Lonestar Cell MTN. Lonestar Cell MTN's support to the ACE cable is part of the overall strategy of the MTN Group to support the development of high speed broadband fiber optic telecommunications across the continent of Africa. The MTN Group has invested more than US$230 million in fibre-optic cables since 2009. MTN's Y'ello Africa Fibre Ring consists of the East African Main System, South Atlantic 3 South Far East (SAT-3/SAFE), East Africa Submarine System, Europe India Gateway and West Africa Cable System and now ACE as a part of the Cable Consortium of Liberia.

It is part of several ACE consortiums in Africa including that of Southern Africa and WECA in West Africa. Over the last ten years of its existence, Lonestar Cell- MTN has not only continuously repeated that promise, but has also actively pursued initiatives that give meaning to that enduring promise like becoming a part of the Cable Consortium of Liberia and supporting the vision of the government of Liberia that would, in addition to other things, provide connectivity to public universities, hospitals and other institutions to promote e-initiatives for development.

Speaking during an inspection of the Mobile BTS, a Liberian telecommunications engineer expressed great satisfaction that a Mobile BTS was finally in Liberia and noted that Lonestar Cell MTN had indeed exemplified itself as the Leader in converged telecommunications in Liberia with the introduction of the Mobile BTS in Liberia. He said such technology is practical and is being deployed with the Liberian people in mind, especially when such technology would provide quick responses and relief in the event of disasters, power outages, over- crowding at events that would cause network congestion, etc.

According to Dr. Bropleh, Lonestar Cell MTN is very pleased to be the company to introduce this significant development of technology in Liberia which would be an added support to the government's own efforts. He said working to achieve goals and targets deemed advantageous by the government for the people of Liberia will remain part and parcel of what Lonestar Cell MTN will continue to do in Liberia while at the same time seeking to improve the lives of the Liberian people.

"Within Lonestar Cell, a Member of the MTN Group, our commitment is to always provide all our subscribers and the Liberian people exciting and innovative products and services that would for them, make their mobile telecommunications experience better. Our goal is to make Liberia Rising a true reality," Dr. Bropleh concluded.