WiMAX Gets Down to Business

Chasing the Consumer Is Not the Only — or the Safest — Play

In addition to a 10mbps-1gbps offer for the top end and a 5mbps and below T1 replacement, Towerstream offers a midrange 8mbps product for SMBs whose bandwidth needs are really starting to accelerate, but who either can’t afford or don’t quite need a second T1. The offer accounts for about 40 percent of Towerstream’s new sales over the last three quarters. “So that’s more than a T1, less than two T1s, and it’s highly affordable,” Thompson explained. “That’s a message that just translates. Companies don’t care if that secure, reliable bandwidth is delivered by wire or over the air — zeros and ones are just zeros and ones.”

Advantages of 802.16e

The replacement market is one safe area of opportunity, but using the mobility-focused 802.16e version of WiMAX gives operators an even greater prospect.

For one thing, the CPE situation takes on a better proposition, since it is this version of WiMAX that most vendors are focused on developing going forward. There’s a groundswell of support for embedded WiMAX. “By using 802.16e now, WISPs might be able to leverage that for portable use — such as leveraging laptops with WiMAX USB modems or built-in WiMAX miniCards inside the laptop,” said Solis of ABI Research. “As far as their typical service though, they would be able to offer even faster set-ups using modems placed by windows as opposed to outdoor modems that must be mounted.”

Thompson added that there’s a cost advantage to 802.16e as well. “If every device starts shipping with embedded WiMAX chips and more networks are subsequently deployed, the runs for global players go up and the cost comes down. The standardization and scale potentially involved here — not found in 3G — will have a profound impact on the economics of rolling this out for providers. It allows us to enjoy the economies of scale that the large companies have, while at the same time driving the costs down of the devices for the customer.” He cited the fact that Wi-Fi is not even a choice anymore in notebooks, “and when you have dual-mode Wi-Fi/WiMAX chips as they're starting to do now, it’s a big game-changer.”

Towerstream was using the fixed version of WiMAX but this fall went mobile in Chicago, delivering 802.16e WiMAX service to businesses in the downtown Loop area, with plans to upgrade the rest of its markets as needed. As for equipment, Towerstream uses Alvarion Ltd.’s WiMAX Forum-certified BreezeMAX 2500 equipment for the 2.5GHz frequency.

It may be the most high-profile, but Towerstream is not the only business-focused WISP embracing WiMAX. Wisper High Speed Internet said this fall that it plans to offer mobile WiMAX services across Minnesota. Wisper said it will increase coverage and services over the next two years to all types of businesses (and residences) with a whopping 600 percent capacity growth, by offering both voice and data services to more than 550,000 people in the area using Alvarion’s BreezeMAX 3650 for the 3.65GHz frequency.

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