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Rural Operators Turn to Broadband Wireless

XChange Magazine

Despite all the talk about spiffy enhanced IP communications and iPhone-like mobile Internet services, some rural customers still are without broadband. But wireless broadband soon may help provide or expand broadband services in some of these traditionally hard-to-reach areas.

That’s because several rural players acquired AWS spectrum in the auction last year, and still others won bids in the 700MHz auction earlier this year. Meanwhile, WiMAX, HSPA and other technologies have matured to the point of offering affordable deployment. All that’s left is for operators to decide which of these many options they’ll use to deliver services.

“Both an opportunity and a challenge for rural and regional operators is that they have a variety of choices for broadband wireless access,” said Debra Florence, head of regional wireless carriers at Nokia Siemens Networks. “They are looking for ways to utilize existing assets and keep their costs down, while still creating a quality, DSL-like wireless experience.”

Take WiMAX, for instance. “Previous wireless technologies offered 10 to 20 megabits on a 10-megabit channel,” explained Lee Gopadze, vice president of wireless operations and engineering for Covad Wireless, which is focused on delivering business-class broadband to a variety of service areas, from rural to urban. “WiMAX extends that by 50 percent. We’re able to replace a portion of our base stations with these radios and literally double the capacity.” Covad is launching fixed and portable WiMAX services beginning in the third quarter, based on the 802.16d specification.

As for the company’s choice to go with fixed WiMAX rather than mobile, Gopadze said Covad is focused on delivering connectivity for businesses that demand a high level of QoS, rather than enhanced applications, and that fixed WiMAX allows it to do just that. Mobile WiMAX, meanwhile, is more suited to delivering bandwidth to individuals because it represents smaller channel sizes, he added.

“It will be some years before we see the ability to deliver the same throughput into the same area that we're getting on fixed radios today,” he continued. “Secondly, mobile WiMAX has a smaller radius of coverage than what we look for. We need five miles at least. Mobile WiMAX is in the mile to a mile-and-a-half, maybe two-mile range, depending on coverage and height requirements.”

Of course, WiMAX is only one piece of the broadband rural pie. NSN, for instance, has found Internet-HSPA to be a viable solution. “I-HSPA delivers a similar experience to other broadband wireless technologies, but the difference is that it eliminates costly elements of a traditional network and simplifies it, giving operator[s]a flat, all-IP network that can be used as a DSL replacement if that's what makes sense for their customers and their business models,” said Florence. “We've been discussing I-HSPA with many rural operators as a way to deploy a next-gen broadband wireless network at a low cost. In an increasingly competitive environment and with a weakening economy, rural operators need to weigh their options of where they can get the most for their investment and still be able to deliver a quality broadband wireless user experience.”

NSN has one deployment in place with Stelera Wireless, a rural operator based in Oklahoma City, in the AWS band. The end-to-end offering consists of network and service core, backhaul and wireless broadband access in addition to turnkey services like network planning, spectrum clearing, site acquisition and construction, installation, integration, optimization, as well as maintenance and interoperability testing with end-user devices. Stelera owns 42 AWS licenses across the United States covering almost 6 million people and is exclusively focused on the rural market.

While rurals mostly are looking at connectivity today, some operators are hoping eventually to deliver enhanced options. DigitalBridge Communications is rolling out mobile WiMAX using Alvarion’s BreezeMAX 2.5GHz mobile WiMAX platform. The network already is up and running with broadband Internet to businesses and homes across Jackson Hole, Wyo. The idea is to give full coverage for homes, businesses and public offices, but the company also plans to leverage the mobile WiMAX promise with PC cards that will give users anytime, anywhere access, with open-access device and applications policies.

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