MMDS: NOT DEAD YET

Add the broadband fixed wireless format known as MMDS to the annals of one-time highly touted technologies that failed to live up to their hype, withered, started to make a comeback, stalled again and are now generating rejuvenated carrier interest. In this particular case, several carriers are allegedly expressing that interest, and all of them are vying for spectrum and networks owned by the working-hard-to-rejuvenate-itself MCI, née WorldCom (see story on page 15). Either the interested carriers must know something the rest of the industry doesn't, or else MMDS developers are making great strides in updating and improving the technology. As a last-mile access format hopeful, MMDS worked very well in controlled environments where the costs of equipment deployment and customer acquisition were irrelevant (in the telecom world, that would be the environment somewhere north of Fantasyland). But if reports of MMDS's revival are not greatly exaggerated, and if developers have addressed the line-of-sight issues that were the primary culprits hindering the technology's access aspirations, MMDS could indeed have a(nother) future. This time, however, we'll wait until we see it to start believing it.