Fixed Wireless Gets Carrier Support - Company Business and Marketing

Telecommunications, Sept, 2000 by Patrick Flanagan

NEW ORLEANS--Fixed wireless broadband is getting support from Sprint, WorldCom and Nucentrix Broadband, the three largest players in the 2.1-GHz and 2.5- to 2.7-GHz bands, as a way to bring high-speed Internet access to everyone's doorstep. The key development is agreement on spectrum management technical plans to reduce interference and infringement on adjacent systems when the 35-mile broadcast radius (3850 square miles) coverage areas overlap. "The industry lost focus because some wireless service providers could not see past their operating borders; these agreements will allow all of us faster market entry," claims Todd Rowley, vice president of spectrum management for Sprint's Broadband Wireless Group.

Chris Whitely, an Insight Research analyst, sees fixed wireless as a viable option for last-mile connectivity. Sprint and WorldCom in particular will benefit because "both can operate as local broadband carriers even though they own little existing last-mile wireline infrastructure, while AT&T has major cable assets for broadband and therefore doesn't need fixed wireless as much," he said. The primary demand is expected to be from small businesses and individuals, particularly for Sprint, which is aggressively seeking low-cost, last-mile connectivity for its ION business data network. Overall, revenues from MMDS (multichannel multipoint distribution service) installations are expected to be $938.3 million in 2004, compared to $49.7 million in 1999, according to Insight. Next year will be the real test of fixed wireless, according to Maribel Lopez at Forrester Research. "There are many areas where wires don't make sense, either because the population is too sparse or the cost of pulling fiber too high," Lopez commented. "It won't revolutionize the world, but it's a good solution when there aren't wired alternatives," she said.

The question of blocked lines of sight is being addressed through intense technological development, and Whitely expects a solution "fairly quickly," but declined to discuss details. The agreement on line-of-sight standards had fallen behind other high-speed data technologies, but is finally happening, according to Whitely, "because carriers are applying purchasing muscle to force what essentially are three competing vendor camps--Hybrid Networks, Cisco and Nortel--to work together."

The spectrum management agreement is an apparent solution to conflicts between adjacent fixed wireless systems that covers not only MMDS, but MDS (multipoint distribution service), ITFS (instructional television fixed service), and WCS (wireless communications service) radio frequencies. This is being accomplished through voluntary agreements between fixed wireless providers to increase the acceptable interference levels above those mandated by the FCC to establish protected service areas.