Conterra launches wireless network with Aperto gear

Broadband services provider Conterra Communications is rolling out 5 GHz fixed wireless services to small/medium business customers in South Carolina and Georgia. Conterra will use Aperto Networks second-generation platform to deliver data, voice and video connectivity.

Although Conterra will start in the 5 GHz range, it will migrate to a more conventional MMDS 2.5 GHz to 2.7 GHz slot, and “Aperto does give us that migration plan,” said Mark Horinko, Conterra’s chairman/founder. “Ultimately, I see our business model almost as a hybrid.”

That hybrid will take into account still other wireless spectrum and “prove more beneficial than just a pure play” in any particular slot, said Horinko.

No second-generation fixed wireless standard has been set, although a number of vendors are pushing the effort through various standards bodies, most predominantly the IEEE 802.16 project. This could leave Conterra technologically stranded if the industry moves in another direction with standards.

“We think time-to-market is critical,” said Horinko. “We want to claim our stake in these second-tier markets, and we feel comfortable where Aperto is at right now.”

The SMB market, Horinko maintained, is underserved.

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit out there, especially being able to put quality-of-service features on top of the Aperto product,” Horinko said. “The customers we’re looking at are really the business customers who want something that has the QoS features that cable and DSL just don’t offer today and are priced substantially less than traditional T-1 services.”

Now, he said, is the right time to attack those customers with a new product.

“The DSL guys have backed down substantially. There’s an enormous amount of interest from the business community for fixed wireless,” Horinko said. “We actually have a decent pre-sell list of customers who are anxious.”

Conterra expects to move from market trials with “friendly” customers into full field deployment “within the coming weeks,” he said.

At the same time, Aperto will continue to work on both second-generation technology standards and a migratory path to other wireless spectrum, said Alan Menezes, marketing vice president.

“We’ve been shipping product now for about four or five months,” Menezes explained. “Now we’re adding some feature functionality and getting the product ready for other frequencies, such as 3.5 [GHz] to address markets across the globe in Europe, Asia and Latin America.”