ERF Rolls Out Next Generation Product Suite to the Oil and Gas Industry

ERF Wireless, a leading provider of enterprise-class wireless broadband products and services, announced that the company's subsidiary, Energy Broadband Inc., has recently integrated several new additions into the communications services the division offers its oil and gas industry customers in remote locations throughout North America.

According to Dr. H. Dean Cubley, CEO of ERF Wireless, "While the majority of Energy Broadband's revenues to date have been generated through delivering Internet services via our Mobile Broadband Trailers (MBTs) operating in conjunction with our fixed terrestrial wireless broadband networks, we have recently added several new supplemental communications services to satisfy the total needs of our oil and gas industry customers.

"The newest service now available that is finding wide acceptance on the drilling sites is a wireless Intercom system produced by Energy Broadband. The Intercom system provides all of the on-site drilling personnel with a local wireless telephone communication system to their respective trailers and the rig floor. A typical drilling pad will utilize between seven and ten of these devices to seamlessly interconnect everyone on the rig site location.

"In addition to the local voice capability, Energy Broadband provides voice services to the outside world via VoIP technology that now includes E911 service in many areas. In most areas in which we operate, cellular coverage is weak or non-existent; therefore, alternative voice services are required and Energy Broadband can provide these needed services.

"In order to provide complete communication services to our customer base, when one of our oil and gas customers moves a drilling rig to a new location that is not close enough to one of our fixed networks to utilize our MBT, we offer them our VSAT service," said Dr. Cubley. "That allows our customer to take advantage of the convenience and savings of a single-source provider for all their communications needs. When the drilling rig moves back within range of our fixed network again, we go back to the MBT for enhanced connectivity and bandwidth."

Dr. Cubley went on to note that these additional product offerings are already having a dramatic effect on increasing the company's average monthly revenue per drilling rig. "We lease these products to our oil and gas customers on a day rate just like we do our MBT services. In many cases, depending on the number of additional products being leased at a drill site, the daily lease rate can more than double from our base MBT rate. As we add more and more of these supplemental products and services, the effect on our revenue will become even more pronounced."

In addition, many of these new products can be used by oil and gas customers anywhere in North America, even if they are not under the Energy Broadband terrestrial wireless coverage.