Ruralcom Corporation Changes Name to TNW Wireless; Service is now Operational in Northern British Columbia and Yukon

Glen Gregory, TNW’s COO & SVP Engineering and Maxime Brazeau, Head of IP solution at a TNW Wireless cellular site in Whitehorse, Yukon (CNW Group/TNW Networks Corp.)

Expanded coverage in its Licensed Area as well as National Deployment of iPCS Planned for April, 2017

VANCOUVER, Feb. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Vancouver-based Investel Capital Corp (''Investel'') is pleased to announce that following the acquisition of Ruralcom Corp on December 7, 2016, all corporate post-closing matters have been completed and the company has changed its name to TNW Wireless Inc. ("TNW Wireless") which is now providing voice and data services in several northern British Columbia and Yukon communities.

Using its 850 MHz mobile spectrum licences TNW Wireless has restored all the former RuralCom's cellular sites and has built an additional site. Service also now covers parts of the northern West Coast and Fort Nelson, BC as well as most of the Whitehorse, Yukon area. TNW Wireless now also provides service to two of the seven communities in the Haida Gwaii including Port Clements where no other wireless service previously existed. 

TNW Wireless is preparing to provide expanded coverage along 1,700 kilometers of the Alaska Highway from northern BC to the Alaska border in the Yukon as well as full coverage of Haida Gwaii through the development by its team of cell site infrastructure specially engineered by TNW for rapid deployment.

Furthermore the company will be deploying its proprietary iPCS smartphone-over-IP technology throughout North America with an extended Home Public Mobile Network coverage using its Wi-Node technology as well as through its US and Canadian roaming partner network in the spring of 2017. Wi-Node gateway technology permits subscribers to use TNW Wireless' 850 MHz licensed spectrum service coverage remotely through an Internet Wi-Fi connection.

TNW Wireless further announced that on December 8, 2016 Lawry Trevor-Deutsch replaced Mr. Robert L. Hillman as Chairman and that he was appointed President on February 12, 2017. Also, Sandeep Panesar was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the company.

"The rapid restoration of the former Ruralcom network was largely due to the technical expertise of TNW's Engineering and Operations teams.  These resources have been with TNW for many years and have had the responsibility for building TNW's own robust communications networks and infrastructure," commented Sandeep Panesar, the CEO of TNW Networks. "The comprehensive voice, data and cloud network infrastructure of TNW permitted us to restore the service in an extraordinarily short time frame and we expect that the TNW Wireless network will soon meet the same level of quality as the rest our network."

TNW Wireless operates its own 3G core network and will work in parallel with its 4G-LTE EPC core network both located within its Home Public Mobile Network. Furthermore, the solution utilized innovative and low capital cost technology which takes full advantage of the existing TNW infrastructure. 

"We are very proud of this significant company milestone and are confident that TNW Wireless will be an exceedingly welcome service particularly in the regions where no service was previously available," stated Lawry Trevor-Deutsch, "We look forward to expanding the TNW Wireless service to other underserved regions within our spectrum licensed area and throughout Canada with iPCS in full support of the Government of Canada's declaration of connectivity as a fundamental right, a policy which we believe will benefit all Canadians."

"The company would like to thank Robert L. Hillman for his service as RuralCom's previous Chairman and CEO who had the vision of providing wireless service to underserved communities in the region." added Sandeep Panesar.

Following the acquisition by Investel of the former Ruralcom, an application for the deemed transfer of wireless spectrum was made, and is pending approval by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

About TNW Wireless Inc.

TNW Wireless Inc. formerly known as RuralCom Corporation is a licensed wireless operator offering wholesale and retail service in Canada and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Investel Capital Corporation.  The company currently holds 25MHz bandwidth tier-2 850 MHz licenses which provide service to the northwest region of Canada and global communication services through its proprietary iPCS Smartphone-over-IP technology.

About TNW Networks Corp

TNW Networks Corp is a national telecommunication service provider in Canada. TNW operates in three distinct product areas; fixed and wireless connectivity, data centers and cloud, and social media technology. TNW provides services to governments, major carriers, enterprises, small and medium sized businesses as well as to residential users on its own telecommunications infrastructure as well as a variety of underlying carriers.

About iPCS^TM

iPCS is an international patent pending IP only mobile technology licensed by Investel Capital Corporation to TNW Wireless and is one of the cornerstones for a new mobile telecommunications paradigm. iPCS is cloud based and breaks the mobile paradigm of one SIM tied to one use and one device. Compatible with any Smartphone, iPCS has the following characteristics:

• Fueled only by data providing full featured voice and messaging services
  
  
• Fully cloud-based with a thin client interface which provides enhanced security and advanced mobile features
  
  
• All iPCS SIMs are generic (identical) and are used only to provide access to the iPCS network
  
  
• iPCS is login vs IMSI based for access to mobile services meaning phones can have multiple users and profiles – and users can access their iPCS profile from any iPCS enabled phone
  
  
• Data usage is tied to the active iPCS user profile and not to the device or SIM card
  
  
• Can be used anywhere in the World – the concept of roaming is obsolete
  
  
• Seamless handover to/from Wi-Fi and 3G/4G/LTE for voice calls
  
  
• iPCS with Wi-Node is materially different from other types of "over-the-top" voice and text application services that use a VoIP application for voice and SMS text message while on 4G and Wi-Fi. These types of services on smartphones remain permanently registered on the Visited Public Mobile Network of the roaming partner even when using Wi-Fi temporarily as the means for Internet/data connectivity.
  
  
• When connecting to any Wi-Fi in any location, the unique iPCS Wi-Node function automatically deregisters a subscribers' device from any Visited Public Mobile Network roaming partner and then backhauls all smartphone Internet/data connectivity to the TNW's Home Public Mobile Network core network. Wi-Node gateway technology permits subscribers to use TNW Wireless' 850 MHz licensed spectrum service coverage remotely through an Internet Wi-Fi connection. This provides for global extended mobile home network local service reach and a connection to the TNW Wireless home core network while ensuring that all connectivity is provided through TNW Wireless core network using its licensed spectrum. The deregistration process means that subscribers are never roaming while on Wi-Fi as no licensed spectrum is being used and has the added advantage of increasing battery life on many phones since cell radios are automatically deactivated and therefore do not consume any power. iPCS data consumption is measured in real time for data consumed over the TNW core network and compared with data from any roaming partner core network. A fair usage policy is in place to ensure that more than 50% of the data is consumed on the TNW versus that of roaming partner networks.
  
  
• iPCS subscribers therefore use the TNW service on roaming partner networks only when they use a roaming partner licensed spectrum outside the TNW Home Public Mobile Network (HPMN) core switch. The concept of being on a Visited Public Mobile Network (VPMN) therefore only occurs when subscribers are using the network of a roaming partner through licensed spectrum while located in a specific area. When users are within an area where a roaming partner currently holds licensed spectrum but are not using any licenced spectrum frequencies, they are not on a VPMN but rather, still on the HPMN with extended backhaul service.

Source:
TNW Wireless Corp
Lawry Trevor-Deutsch
SVP Corporate Affairs
[phone]

TNW Networks Corp
Sandeep Panesar
Chief Executive Officer
[phone]

SOURCE TNW Networks Corp.

Jenna Trevor-Deutsch, Director Public Relations, Email: [email protected], Tel: [phone] ext: 109

Related Links

http://tnwcorp.com/