Wireless News Briefs

• On The Bright Side
• Seeing Eye Radios
• Merrily They Roll Along
• Carrying On Regardless

by Gerry Blackwell [June 28, 2001]

On The Bright Side
Despite some recent gloom and doom in the fixed wireless world, high-tech market researcher Cahners In-Stat Group believes broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) will capture a substantial portion of the broadband (wireline and wireless) market by 2005.

In a recent report, Troubled Times for the Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Market, In-Stat predicts that worldwide BFWA provider revenues will grow to more than $3 billion in 2005. That's ten times current levels.

The report reviews and forecasts the Local Multi-point Distribution Services (LMDS), Multi-channel Multi-point Distribution Services (MMDS) and license-free fixed wireless services markets. In-Stat estimates these markets combined currently serve fewer than 250,000 subscribers The research firm attributes current pessimism to slower than anticipated service rollouts for MMDS and financial woes among larger LMDS service providers.

"By most measures the Information Age has been severely hindered by the relatively slow deployment of 'last-mile' broadband services throughout the world and especially to enterprises, resulting in pent-up demand for high-speed data and advanced telecommunications services," says Becky Diercks, director of In-Stat's Wireless Group.

"By circumventing the costs and time associated with laying expensive fiber, broadband fixed wireless technology offers an excellent means by which to capitalize on the vast potential of the broadband market."

Yes, but more than that, the technology provides a way for service providers to offer high-speed access services without having to lease or resell telco products.

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Seeing Eye Radios

WaveRider Communications Inc., a Toronto-based provider of fixed wireless Internet access products, announced recently that another small regional ISP is using its breakthrough non-line-of-sight wireless technology.

Alberni-dot-Net of Port Alberni BC on Canada's west coast has completed initial installation of an LMS3100 system which operates in the 902 MHz ISM license-exempt frequency band and provides 1 Mbps of throughput at a range of up to one mile.

Waverider announced earlier this year that Platinum Communications, an ISP in Okotoks, Alberta just south of Calgary in Canada's western prairies, was using the LMS3000 system which is also a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) system.

The importance of non-line-of-sight is that subscribers can install the modem and antenna, which communicate with the system's base station, located at the ISP's site. This eliminates the need for professional installation.

Alberni-dot-Net will offer high-speed Internet access using the system, which WaveRider claims is the world's first to deliver broadband Internet access via a NLOS connection.

"Since we announced our plans to offer high-speed wireless Internet access to our customers in April, we have received many calls from subscribers expressing interest in the service," says Alberni-dot-Net managing director Erik Hjelholt.

"We are currently in our final stages of testing with an initial base of residential and business subscribers ready to start using the LMS3100 shortly."

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Merrily They Roll Along
Frustration and impatience may be the mood of the moment among broadband fixed wireless service providers and equipment vendors in North America, but those targeting overseas markets appear to be rolling along nicely.

Airspan Networks Inc. of Sunrise FL, a provider of CDMA-based fixed wireless networks that operate in frequency bands from 900 MHz to 4 GHz, announced two major overseas deals this month.

Airspan has signed a contract with Beeline Service—Samara, a subsidiary of VimpelCom, the largest mobile operator in Russia, to supply high speed Internet access services to Beeline's subscribers.

The contract significantly strengthens Airspan's presence in Eastern Europe, the company says. It also has deployments in the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.

Airspan will supply Beeline with its Airspan AS4000 wireless DSL system. The operator will initially focus on providing high speed Internet services to customers in the city of Samara, but later plans to expand its services in that city as well as the nearby city of Toliatti.

Earlier in the month, Airspan announced it has established an office in Indonesia to take advantage of the country's rapidly growing telecom market. In conjunction with the opening of the office, it also announced the signing of two deals.

The contracts are with Indonesia's leading international telecom carrier, P.T. Indonesian Satellite Corporations Tbk (Indosat) and P.T. Lintasarta, a local data communications and value-added service provider.

In the first deal signed with P.T. Indosat, a provider of international telecommunications services linking Indonesia to approximately 257 countries and destinations worldwide, Airspan will provide the telecom company its AS4000 wireless DSL system.

Airspan's system will establish a wireless network in the city of Surabaya and its suburbs. The first phase of the installation was to be completed within three weeks of the announcement in mid-June, following Indosat's strategy to accelerate telecommunications development with wireless access technology.

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Carrying On Regardless
Troubled Adaptive Broadband Corp. announced a significant new product offering, the AB-ACCESS Extender, a 5.8 GHz U-NII (Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure) point-to-point radio.

At the same time, it announced its board of directors had authorized it to explore additional strategic options including the sale, merger or recapitalization of the company. Adaptive is facing class action law suits alleging stock fraud. It was delisted by NASDAQ in May.

AB-ACCESS Extender is a fixed broadband wireless system providing a spectrally efficient point-to-point (PTP) channel for high-speed backhaul, bridging LANs, or multiple E1/T1 replacement applications and for expanding the reach of Adaptive Broadband point-to-multipoint (PMP) solutions.

Combining Time Division Duplexing, patent pending Packet-on-Demand technology and PTP functionality, the company says AB-ACCESS Extender provides a robust, cost-effective alternative to wired solutions such as T1 and HDSL.

The AB-ACCESS Extender will be available July 2001 at a list price of $11,990 per link.

"This product follows Adaptive Broadband's strategy to bring to market carrier grade wireless access solutions that are cost effective, quick to deploy and flexible," says vice president of marketing Franchesca Walker.

"As a PTP solution, AB-ACCESS Extender enables a fixed wireless architecture to use less equipment covering a greater distance."

The U-NII extender subsystem is based on the integrated, outdoor and spectrally efficient AB-ACCESS platform used today in many PMP fixed wireless access applications.

Benefits of the AB-ACCESS Extender include increased range in the U-NII bands and optimal use of expensive RF spectrum by using Time Division Duplexing which uses one shared RF channel for both upstream and downstream traffic.

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