Sprint ends MMDS deployments

Sprint will stop adding customers to its fixed-wireless multichannel multipoint distribution services [MMDS] and freeze the number of markets it serves. The company will continue to support its existing 52,000-customer base and does not dismiss the possibility of proceeding with the high-speed wireless data play when second-generation technology becomes available, company officials said.

More ominously for MMDS vendors, Sprint President/COO Ron LeMay said the company will “also consider other alternatives for the spectrum made possible by the recent FCC flexible-use order.”

That order opened the possibility that third-generation mobile wireless services could be delivered by existing license holders in the MMDS 2.5-2.7 GHz bandwidth space. Sprint could then use its spectrum to expand its PCS network to third-generation capabilities.

LeMay left a door open for Sprint’s continued presence in MMDS.

“Our sales indicate that customers like and want high-speed fixed wireless services, but the economics of providing the service in today’s environment make it difficult to support a business case using first-generation technology,” he said.

Second-generation technology would alleviate the most oppressing of fixed wireless’ limitations by at least partially removing line-of-sight requirements for radio frequency signals, thereby substantially reducing costs for home installations and offering subscribers some portability. Most vendors are pursuing this course, but a lack of standards and vendor funding uncertainty have hindered development.