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Azulstar picks Alvarion’s 3.65 GHz WiMAX radios

WiMAX.com

Azulstar opened its first WiMAX service this past week using the new Alvarion WiMAX 3.65 GHz radios in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and it is also opening service across most of Western Michigan and to markets it serves in New Mexico. 

Azulstar began service testing in February of this year.  The first communities to receive actual service will be Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Ferrysburg, Sprint Lake and parts of Ottawa and Kent Counties.  In New Mexico service went up this week in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque with more towns to be added in the fall. 

The service called MetraMAX is positioned to serve residential, business, and governmental customers.  Price points for business customers with T1s comes in under $275 per month and residential service prices start for less than $40 per month.  Bundles include phone and Internet service.  Azulstar is offering up to 6 Mbps for residential customers and up to 100 Mbps of symmetric service for business customers. 

What the press release does not say is whether or not the 100 Mbps service is actually its 3.65 GHz product.  In fact, I doubt that it is.  While I am an avowed fan of using 3.65 GHz I do not believe it supports data rates that high.  Most likely Azulstar is using some type of Point-to-Point backhaul radio technology for links of that capacity. 

In any event, it is always welcome to see more 3.65 GHz deployments hit the field.  I think it is a very valuable tool for carriers who cannot afford or find licensed broadband spectrum. 

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