MMDS industry moves ahead

The Wireless Communications Association conference last week in New Orleans may have looked small compared to the handful of annual super-shows, but it generated two significant multichannel multipoint distribution service industry agreements expected to foster speed to market.

Six vendors teamed to create the Wireless DSL Consortium in what may be seen as an opposing force to Cisco Systems' efforts last year to standardize its vector orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (VOFDM) technology (see textbox). The group is inviting other companies to join the consortium to define open interfaces and standards for MMDS systems.

The wireless modem standard is expected to generate much discussion. The consortium hopes to define a single wireless DOCSIS standard for the industry to reduce development and manufacturing costs. To date, wireless cable modem suppliers have largely taken the DOCSIS cable modem standard and adapted it to the wireless environment.

Wireless, however, adds many challenges that aren't accounted for in the wireline-based DOCSIS standard. "Cable modems don't need frequency tolerance," said John Ramsey, vice president of worldwide sales for Vyyo, which has developed a patented wireless DOCSIS product. Vyyo's DOCSIS+ has additional modulations, allowing operators to maintain robust systems when cellularizing their networks. DOCSIS+ also allows more channel granularity, letting operators use narrow slices of spectrum.

The Wireless DSL Consortium believes it can get its solution to market faster than Cisco's group. "There is such demand that to delay hurts the whole industry," said John Griffin, president of ADC Telecommunications' broadband wireless group. Cisco's VOFDM is a non- or near-line-of-site technology that may ultimately be used as a next generation solution in niche areas. The process of standardizing VOFDM will be lengthy, Griffin said. Instead, the Wireless DSL Consortium will focus on TDMA/frequency division duplexing technology and a wireless DOCSIS standard to reach the market as quickly as possible.

So far, WorldCom is one of the few operators to generally endorse the Wireless DSL Consortium, by noting its support of open standardization efforts.

In addition to the vendor-driven Wireless DSL Consortium, MMDS operators last week banded together in a separate effort to speed market entry. Nucentrix, Sprint and WorldCom formed a technical agreement for spectrum management.

"The way MMDS spectrum is held is arcane," said Tim Sutton, president of Sprint's broadband wireless group. The agreement lets operators coordinate with others in adjacent markets to avoid interference. It's expected to speed the licensing process as MMDS license holders move toward offering two-way data services.

In addition to those agreements, the excitement at the show surrounded the two companies that have revitalized MMDS: WorldCom and Sprint. Bernie Ebbers, president and CEO of WorldCom, suggested that the failure of the WorldCom/Sprint merger could have widespread effects on the budding MMDS industry. Efforts by the government to bring broadband access to rural areas "have taken a serious step backward because of the DOJ's position on the merger," he said.

Ebbers' comment provoked a harsh response from the U.S. Telecom Association, which claimed that WorldCom has repeatedly ignored the residential market and has no interest in real competition.

"Mr. Ebbers' latest problems are not the result of overzealous government regulators in Washington," said Roy Neel, president and CEO of USTA, in a statement.

Nonetheless, most in the industry believe that WorldCom and Sprint already have given the confidence vote in MMDS, which is all the industry needed. "Alone, both companies are big," said James Zucco, chairman and CEO of Spike Technologies. "The imperative to find a last-mile solution doesn't change."