The meat of the matter

Today's broadband wireless players have come to the realization that LMDS and other high-frequency technologies are not the telco killers

Where's the beef?

How long has it been since you've heard that line? Clara Peller, the octogenarian who uttered the phrase for a Wendy's ad in the 1980s and become an instant pop icon, has been gone from this earth for more than a decade. But in a lot of ways, when it comes to new technology, I often ask the same question.

Broadband wireless technologiesand local multipoint distribution service in particularhave been touted as telco killers. Prior to the auction of LMDS spectrum, vendors and potential bidders had visions of forming companies that could leapfrog over all that messy wired infrastructure and provide the holy trinity of servicesvoice, high-speed data and videoin direct competition with telcos and cable operators.

Like most technologies, though, the reality was a little more narrowly defined. Today's broadband wireless players have set their cross-hairs on the corporate market with a special emphasis on any account in a tall building. More important, they have come to the realization that LMDS and other high-frequency technologies are not the telco killers. Instead, they have become a single arrow in a quiver of access technologies.

What's more, broadband wireless carrierslike all others competitive entitieshave come back to earth after the financial community realized that regardless of access technology, success in the service provider market is largely dependent on the execution of non-glamorous items such as operations support systems and customer support.

Chris Leising, director of broadband fixed wireless solutions for Telcordia, is someone who has followed the market from its infancy as a do-all technology to its narrowly defined use as an extension of fiber networks. Like most access technologies, he says, economics are the biggest driver, but it's the routine things that have defined success. As much as slick business plans drive investment, it's the back office stuff that builds the engines behind companies like XO and Winstar.

Going forward, applications such as voice-over-IP and voice-over-DSL will garner the spotlight, while the meaty issues behind the gloss will receive scant attention. Bring up the issue of new applications to Jim Yard, the man probably more responsible than anyone for the survival of MMDS when he an executive at SpeedChoice, and he responds with a mundane technical issue that must be tackled.

What's interesting about voice over IP is that it doesn't take up a whole lot of bandwidth [in the MMDS frequencies], says Yard, now vice president of Andrew's broadband wireless group. What it takes is some very good expertise in QoS.

QoS? That's not sexy and exciting. Next thing he'll say is that it takes some good back office systems that can handle billing, analyze traffic patters to identify customers likely to churn or make self-provisioning a reality.

Of course, the fact that broadband wireless hasn't lived up to its over-hyped promise doesn't deem it a failure. Few, if any, technologies ever meet initial expectations.

What remains constant is the requirement that regardless of access technique, all technologies must answer some fundamental questions: What market niche is best served by the technology? And how well does the support behind the technology function?

In other words, where's the beef?

Contact Vince Vittore at vvittore@intertec.com