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Bell Mobility Deploys First 4x4 MIMO in Canada with Ceragon’s FibeAir IP-20C

September 9, 2014

Paramus, New Jersey, September 9, 2014 - Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT), the #1 wireless hauling specialist, today announced that together with Bell Mobility, the wireless services division of Bell Canada, it has successfully deployed the first commercial 4x4 MIMO in Canada. Based on Ceragon’s compact, multi-core FibeAir IP-20C solution, the live link provides 1.6 Gbps of capacity over a single 40MHz channel. By selecting Ceragon’s advanced microwave solutions, Bell Mobility aims to more than double the capacity of their wireless backhaul network.

Approximately 30% of all Bell Mobility cell sites are connected to the network via microwave. The reason for this is that fiber is not always available or cost-effective, especially in rural parts of the country. As new mobile technologies gain support and popularity, there is a clear need for an increase in backhaul capacity over microwave.

The use of a single frequency channel to achieve ultra-high capacities is extremely important for mobile operators as there is a finite amount of the spectrum available. While competing solutions claim to achieve Gigabit bandwidth through the use of multiple frequencies, it is not always possible for operators to license multiple frequencies where and when the additional bandwidth is required.

“Bell Mobility is taking big steps toward preparing their network to haul LTE Advanced and even 5G future services,” said Ira Palti, president and CEO of Ceragon. “Our compact FibeAir IP-20C solution is the only system today capable of delivering multi gigabit capacities over a single licensed frequency channel. As such FibeAir IP-20C provides the flexibility that mobile carriers need in order to meet diverse deployment scenarios in both urban and rural settings.”

About Bell Mobility
Bell Mobility is a division of Bell Canada (Bell). Bell offers consumer and business customers across Canada blazing fast speeds, high quality coast-to-coast coverage and global roaming to more than 200 countries on a full range of wireless voice and data communications products.

Those services are delivered across the most extensive wireless networks in the Canadian industry. Bell’s 4G High-speed Packet Access (HSPA+) network is as good as any in the world, with a footprint that covers 97% of the population. We continue to improve it with HSPA+ Dual Cell technology which doubles the network’s data transfer speed up to 42 Mbps. Dual cell is available to 70% of the HSPA+ footprint. An established leader of Canadian wireless, Bell continues to innovate, most recently with the launch of an even faster network – 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) – which will eventually support speeds approaching 150 Mbps. Bell Mobility Inc. provides wireless communications services across Canada under the Bell Mobility and Solo Mobile brands. Bell also owns 100% of Virgin Mobile Canada and offers wireless services under the Virgin brand nationally.http://www.bce.ca/aboutbce/bellcanada/wireless/