BellSouth dips toes into fixed wireless in Florida

BellSouth will test the value of its 2.3 GHz broadband fixed wireless spectrum in Daytona, Fla., using Navini Networks equipment. The multi-phase trial will examine high-speed fixed broadband wireless data delivery capabilities as a complement, or an alternative, to wireline DSL services.

The trial will use Navini’s non-line-of-sight [NLOS] technology to deliver data at DSL-equivalent speeds to up to 150 participants using small desktop wireless units connected to either an Ethernet or USB port. The trial will cover multiple base stations across a 150-square-mile radius and run from January through March this year. The NLOS technology also is being trialed by Sprint in Houston.

“[BellSouth has] looked for a long, long time for 2.3 [GHz] equipment,” said Alastair Westgarth, Navini’s president-CEO.

While the spectrum is efficient, “its neighbors are absolutely horrendous,” he said. The FCC has imposed stringent interference standards both on the wireless provider and the adjacent satellite radio service so that “two or three years ago we probably couldn’t have done it,” Westgarth said.

Daytona, which probably won’t be the site of any initial rollouts, was chosen to work out the spectrum bugs, Westgarth said.

“It is in an area which has maximum satellite interference. They also wanted an area that had some DSL coverage so they could compare it to DSL performance. It’s also an area that’s underserved, so they could see how people accept broadband,” he said. “Net-net, they’re looking to make sure that they stretch the equipment as far as they can technically and validate the service offer that people would be purchasing from them.”

Navini, he said, also will learn about its equipment, including the viability of its NLOS gear in a meteorologically challenging environment.

“”What’s difficult about Florida is you have different propagations inland versus along the coast,” said Westgarth. “That’s purely an engineering exercise. I would call it a medium-difficult terrain.”

Houston, where the equipment is being tested by Sprint, is equally difficult weather-wise, he said. That technology test is now in front of 100 live users as Sprint ponders its next step in the fixed wireless space.

“We hope that ultimately they decide to do something commercially,” Westgarth said. “All the business plans are in place but they have not been given any green lights. But there are no red lights yet, either.”