VERIZON TRIAL BREATHES LIFE INTO FIXED WIRELESS MARKET

Just when it seemed that fixed broadband wireless had gasped its last breath, Verizon Communications came forward with a respirator. Using the 2.3 GHz wireless communications service (WCS) spectrum the company won at auction in 1997, the RBOC last week said it has started testing the technology with employees in Fairfax County, Va.

If things go well, the carrier will roll out fixed broadband wireless to supplement DSL service early next year.

While the fixed wireless market shares the optimism, it's too early to cancel the technology's obituary. Verizon has been down this route before, having dumped its plans to offer cable TV over MMDS in the late 1990s.

Mature second-generation technology from BeamReach Networks, in which Verizon has a financial stake, is the difference this time, said Brian Whitton, Verizon's executive director of network platform evolution. “We think it's matured in the last five years to the point where its commercial viability seems real,” Whitton said.

BeamReach is alone with second-generation technology for RBOCs that own WCS spectrum. Sprint and WorldCom, which were leading previous fixed wireless efforts, used 2.5 to 2.7 GHz MMDS spectrum.

“Our competitors have not addressed WCS because it's very narrow, as opposed to MMDS,” said Bernard Aboussouan, BeamReach's vice president of marketing. MMDS has 192 MHz of spectrum while WCS maxes out at 30 MHz. Verizon owns two 5 MHz bandwidth slots in the former Bell Atlantic footprint.

What makes this effort different is BeamReach's use of adaptive beam forming to shape wireless waves around obstacles and deliver data to several thousand customers in a five-mile perimeter. Verizon will offers up to 1.5 Mb/s downstream and 1.2 Mb/s upstream to residential customers as an ADSL supplement. Every customer will be guaranteed at least 768 kb/s because the technology is rate adaptive, Whitton said.

Having an RBOC test the technology gives the sector credibility because a Bell company's standards are going to be higher than those of smaller players, said Lindsay Shroth, an analyst with The Yankee Group.

The trial, which will expand to up to 50 additional customers, comes late in the fixed wireless game. A number of broadband wireless vendors have died waiting for carriers to make decisions, and many others are on life support.

Aboussouan declined to say how much BeamReach is being paid for its expertise and technology. The company, he emphasized, can survive until the end of the year and will be ready with equipment if Verizon goes forward next year.

“Clearly, if a major RBOC decides to deploy this thing, I don't think [money is] going to be an issue,” he said.

Based on early comments from Verizon, actual deployment seems likely. “We're positioned in 2003 to move forward with a deployment if the trial is deemed successful,” Whitton said. “So far, just bringing up the first set of customer modems or remote units has been quite successful.”

FIXED WIRELESS OPTIONS