Southern Linc deploys BEC’s 4900 outdoor router to deliver high-speed data connectivity over CBRS to Alabama Power’s Mobile Command Center at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama
Executive Summary
- Customer Type: Communication Provider, Southern Linc
- Product: BEC Ridgewave® 4900 R21 LTE-A Pro CBRS Outdoor Router
- Application: High-Speed Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) over CBRS Spectrum
- Data Connectivity: 4G LTE Network on Alabama Power CBRS Band 48 Spectrum
- Results: By deploying the BEC 4900 R21, Southern Linc was able to resolve the communications gaps for Alabama Power’s Mobile Command Center at The World Games 2022
The 11th edition of The World Games, an international sporting event, took place in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 7-17, 2022. The event hosted 3,600 of the world’s best athletes from 99 nations to compete in 33 unique, multi-discipline sports. Alabama Powers Mobile Command Center, which served as the hub for all World Game site logistics, lacked reliable connectivity. As a result, Southern Linc deployed the BEC 4900 R21 Outdoor CBRS Router and resolved all connectivity issues, providing a reliable, high-capacity, and high-speed data connection throughout the event.
About the Customer
Southern Linc is an Atlanta, Georgia-based integrated digital wireless service provider that began serving commercial customers in February 1996. Southern Linc was developed by its parent company, Southern Company (NYSE: SO), to meet the wireless communications needs of commercial users as well as Southern Company’s subsidiaries including Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power.
Southern Linc is known for its CriticalLinc™ 4G LTE Advanced wireless network. Designed specifically to meet the growing mission-critical needs of their largest customers, Southern Company’s electric utilities. With more than 122,000 square miles of coverage throughout the Southeast, CriticalLinc™ is more than a mission-critical LTE network. It’s a network of people who support you in all your mission-critical moments.
Challenge
The World Games is a huge event held at different venues throughout multiple counties. With an estimated economic impact of $256 million, Alabama Power needed to create a central hub for site logistics and coordination of the fire and rescue teams across four local counties. Once the Mobile Command Center was established across from Birmingham City Hall. Alabama Power asked Southern Linc for assistance with providing high-speed wireless broadband network connectivity. It was critical that the connectivity was reliable and provided enough bandwidth to all data demands for all the entities working from the Command Center.
The BEC 4900 was a huge success in proving CBRS connectivity for the World Games mobile command center. The installation and setup was incredibly easy. We are looking forward to leveraging the 4900 for other broadband use cases on our LTE network.
Brian Lee, Product Engineering Manager at Southernlinc Wireless
How BEC Helped
Southern Linc determined that leveraging Alabama Power CBRS PAL licenses and deploying a CBRS network would be the best option to address the lack of connectivity and selected the BEC 4900 R21 CBRS Outdoor Router. The BEC 4900 R21 is a high-performance platform supporting LTE Category 12 data rates, carrier aggregation up to 3 CA DL / 2 CA UL, and BEC’s patented MIMO antenna technology within a compact IP-68 ruggedized enclosure.
The solution is purpose-built for increased coverage and bandwidth in non-line-of-sight conditions and years of dependable operation in harsh environments and extreme temperatures. Within a few days of the event, the 4900 R21 and the network were tested and up and running.
Results
The results were outstanding; the Mobile Command Center was a big success, keeping everyone connected with high-speed wireless CBRS connectivity throughout the event. With the BEC 4900 R21 CBRS Outdoor Router and Southern Linc’s LTE network as its backbone, data rates were incredibly fast, with more than 300 Mbps DL and 22 Mbps UL with carrier aggregation. During the 10-day event, users consumed over 1.5 TB of data, around 8GB per hour. Alabama Power is now considering deploying the BEC 4900 R21 at remote office locations throughout its footprint.
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