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Arriva Trains Signs Danish WiFi Deal
(28 May 2008, BWCS Staff)UK-based Moovera has won the contract to provide WiFi services on Arriva Trains in Denmark. The system, based on the eponymous Moovbox, will allow Arriva to offer passengers WiFi access and provide GPS positioning for the rolling stock. It will be installed on 29 trains in Denmark. The backhaul link will be provided by an HSDPA connection to the 3G network run by Danish mobile operator 3.
The contract marks Moovera's first win for trains. Until now the company has been better known for making WiFi available on buses, long-distance coaches and ferries. It is not clear whether Arriva, which has bus and train operations in the UK and other European countries, plans to roll the system out to new markets in the future.
Moovera's solution has initially been implemented on trains running between Aarhus, Thisted and Tønder in Jutland and will provide free WiFi hotspot services to passengers. By utilizing the Moovbox for GPS-based automatic vehicle location (AVL), Arriva will also be able to keep track of the train fleet via Moovera's MoovManage centralized monitoring system.
Johnny Hansen, managing director of Arriva Scandinavia, said that the company believes that the introduction of broadband services on their trains in Jutland will enhance the passenger experience and provide a useful and productive way for their customers to spend their journey time.
According to Jim Baker, Moovera CEO and founder, this is a landmark deployment for his company as it is their first major installation with a national rail network operator. Baker explained that many of their large transportation customers who use the Moovbox mobile broadband gateway on their bus fleets also own train operations. Thus it is a natural progression for them to use Moovbox technology to deliver WiFi services to rail passengers.
Arriva Scandinavia reportedly awarded the contract for in-train broadband to Network Zone Relations (NZR), Moovera's representative in the region and a specialist in wireless communication systems. Louis Preben Nezer, CEO of NZR believes that Arriva's roll-out of Wi-Fi for rail passengers is a clear indication of the importance broadband access has in today's train industry.
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