In the wake of the news AT&T's wireless plan rattles Wireless '97 >BY JASON MEYERS, Wireless Networks Editor

Proponents of the fixed wireless concept owe a big debt to AT&T for suddenly rocketing the technology into the wireless industry consciousness.

The company's announcement late last month that it has been developing a proprietary scheme for offering fixed local service via wireless reverberated throughout the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's Wireless '97 show in San Francisco last week. From conference sessions to the show floor and everywhere in between, everyone was talking about fixed wireless.

"It's a tremendously exciting announcement," said Alex Mandl, chairman and chief executive officer of Associated Communications and former president of AT&T. "It's a phenomenal endorsement of the fixed wireless solution." Mandl's own agenda could get a boost from the technology's advancement because Associated is developing a fixed wireless access solution.

AT&T Wireless' revelation generally prompted me-too responses from many cellular and personal communication services rivals that have been developing the system.

"It is our intent to do wireless local loop," said Keith Paglusch, vice president of engineering and operations Sprint PCS. "It would be premature to release those plans because it's not any more developed than others that are out there.

Reviews from the vendor community ranged from disgruntled to excited, given the proposed manufacturing component of AT&T's strategy. One wireless local loop developer lauded the announcement but said AT&T must provide value by bundling fixed local solutions with several other offerings.

"The telephone companies have said they will do trials until the bell rang last week," said Jim Mullen, director of marketing at Hughes Network Systems. "Wireless local loop for itself isn't necessary-you really need to have value-added service.

The AT&T plan also appears to have the weight to potentially shift market strategies of wireless local loop developers that have traditionally targeted their products at the overseas markets.

"We haven't even looked at the North American market," said Martin Cooper, chairman of ArrayComm. "What AT&T has done is validate this market.

AT&T added little new information to its earlier bombshell. Nick Kauser, chief technology officer of AT&T Wireless, defended the system's proposed 128 kb/s data rates, saying that may not match the speed of digital subscriber line solutions but may be more cost-competitive.

AT&T Wireless also confirmed that a factory for manufacturing and assembling the solution's radio nodes, power equipment and home base stations (see figure) is up and running in Redmond, Wash. The specific capacity of that facility was not disclosed, but AT&T Wireless Vice Chairman Wayne Perry said it is sufficient to support the solution.

One industry analyst doubted the need for the facility, predicting that wireless local access vendors will come forward in droves to offer to adapt their solutions-and that AT&T may have been anticipating that all along.

"They may build some of it, but what they're hoping for is that vendors will come forward with solutions," said John Ledahl, director of wireless programs at Dataquest, San Jose.

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