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Fluidmesh and Cisco to Supply WiFi on Trains Deep Under the Ground in St Petersburg
(01 Jun 2017, BWCS Staff)St Petersburg Metro and its WiFi and mobile partner, Maxima Telecom, have reportedly chosen Fluidmesh to provide the train to shore links on a network-wide on-train WiFi system. Cisco will provide the on-board access points. The City of St Petersburg signed a deal with Maxima last year.
The WiFi network in St Petersburg will cover all 67 stations and 1,600 carriages across five lines in what is one of the deepest subway systems in the world. Last year, when the city first reached an agreement with Maxima, the cost of covering the entire 380km of track, at depths of up to 86 metres was estimated to be around 1.8 billion roubles (US$27.3 million).
Maxima, of course, has form in this area – in 2015 it launched a free WiFi to trains system in the much larger Moscow Metro (9.7 million riders daily).
In a statement Fluidmesh said its train-to-ground wireless technology and Cisco on-board WiFi access points will deliver up to 500 Mbps to passengers on the move beneath the city. The St Petersburg Metro system boasts an annual ridership in excess of 750 million passengers.
Mikhail Minkovskiy, Maxima CTO said, “With its latest product line, Fluidmesh reached performance levels that are hard to beat. We have been impressed by the zero-millisecond hand-over that Fluidmesh demonstrated in complex tunnel scenarios, leveraging their patented protocols.”
Oleg Kopitsyn, Maxima Deputy CEO, added, “In Maxima’s WiFi monetization strategy every Mbit per second of throughput means additional revenues. Fluidmesh showed us a way to improve our business metrics leveraging their patented wireless technology.”
“Maxima has a unique expertise in running train connectivity networks and is a global leader and an innovator in monetizing passengers’ WiFi” commented Umberto Malesci, Fluidmesh CEO and co-founder.
According to the company, the first line in St Petersburg is already equipped with Fluidmesh radio devices. In fact, it went live on the 30h of May, providing WiFi connectivity to passengers. The entire system including all the other St. Petersburg lines is expected to go live by the end of the summer.
Trackside networks, the growing market for on-train passenger WiFi services and on-board entertainment will all be fully examined at this year’s WiFi on Trains Conference hosted by BWCS. For more information on the upcoming event please see www.Traincomms2017.com or contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com
This year's Train Communications System Conference is sponsored by Icomera (Gold), Nomad Digital (Silver), Fluidmesh (Bronze), 21Net (Cocktails), LetsJoin (Lunch Day 1) and RADWIN (Lunch Day 2).
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