Bengaluru startup bags ITU award for rural broadband & 5G tech

Astrome Technologies, a city-based startup, has won the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Virtual Digital World SME award for the most promising innovative solution in connectivity. The firm is incubated at the Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Society for Innovation and Development (SID).

Astrome won the award for its Gigamesh wireless-fibre product that accelerates the deployment of 5G and rural broadband infrastructure.

Astrome has pioneered a multi-beam E-band product, GigaMesh, that packs six point-to-point E-band radios in one thereby distributing the cost of the device over multiple links.

“The underlying technology is a patented millimeter wave digital beamforming technology which offers powerful features like automatic link alignment, dynamic power allocation between links and remote link formation to help operators achieve significant OpEx cost reduction. The product is ideal for rapid Rural Broadband and 5G deployment,” Astrome said in a statement.

Neha Satak, co-founder and CEO, Astrome said the firm can help telecom operators reduce the digital divide by enabling them to deploy quality rural telecom infrastructure at five times less cost and an order of magnitude lower time of deployment.

“This award is a strong validation that our technology and product is desired globally to bridge the digital divide, it also encourages us to scale our business and reach its maximum potential,” Satak added.

Venkatesh Kumaran, president, Astrome said the award reiterates that the problem the firm is solving is really big, and that it would have a great role to play in rural broadband infrastructure and upcoming 5G deployments.

“The ITU Telecom World Awards rewards inspirational ICT innovation and looks for the next generation of social technopreneurs between 18 and 30 years with solutions to developmental challenges. It is an opportunity to recognize innovative tech solutions, build resilience and foster investment in tech SMEs in the midst of this crisis,” the statement added.

Astrome, the statement added, is pioneering the future of millimeter wave wireless communication – be it on earth or from space.

“GigaMesh is its first product that solves the network congestion problems in 4G infrastructure and paves the way for 5G by providing fibre-like backhaul capacity wirelessly. GigaMesh is also ideal for extending the range of fibre to support rural infrastructure growth,” the statement added. ToI