Ian,
Here's why I think LMDS roll-out is dicey. It's an interesting article and helped me form my opinions on the matter. Open your eyes, you never know what you might learn ...
Wireless Broadband Faces More Delays
By FRED DAWSON
The wireless-broadband sector continues to be
buffeted by technical and regulatory challenges
that are pushing commercial rollouts ever further
into 1999.
These developments are occurring as
escalating worldwide demand intensifies the
pressure on vendors to deliver solutions.
Wireless licensees in the vanguard of
deployment of new point-to-multipoint
technology are still targeting late 1998 for initial
rollouts. But some that had expected to name
suppliers by now are still sorting through their
options, while others that have named suppliers
are still experimenting with various iterations of
the radio and other component technologies
that comprise the new network paradigm.
Meanwhile, the licensing process in LMDS
(local multipoint distribution service) is taking
longer than anticipated. And new questions
have arisen with regard to the procedures
surrounding the licensing of Teligent Inc., a key
player in the vanguard of wireless-broadband
companies with nationwide aspirations that are
operating in spectrum outside of the LMDS
zone.
"I could be wrong ... but it doesn't look to me like
we, or anyone else, will be able to move forward
with significant commercial deployments before
mid-'99," said Ron Olexa, chief technical officer
of Advanced Radio Telecom.
ART is a privately held provider of point-to-point
services in the 38-gigahertz tier that is
preparing to move into point-to-multipoint
operations in most of the top 100 U.S. markets.
ART, based in Bellevue, Wash., is preparing to
deploy packet-switched infrastructures in
Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Phoenix that are to
be operational by year's end. The company
would like to make use of point-to-multipoint
transmitters over those networks as soon as
possible, Olexa said.
But Olexa hasn't seen anything in the lab testing
under way at ART's supplier, Lucent
Technologies, to suggest an early time frame.
Lucent is committed to finding solutions through
OEM (original equipment manufacturer)
agreements with outside suppliers, as well as
through the use of technology that it acquired
earlier this year from Hewlett-Packard Co.
ART -- with an average of 200 megahertz of
spectrum to work with in 90 of the top 100
markets and 210 cities overall -- has emerged
as a challenger to the leading 38-GHz
license-holder, WinStar Communications Inc.,
and to Teligent as one of the three companies
holding licenses that would allow them to move
ahead of LMDS licensees in the use of
point-to-multipoint technology.
This new technology allows operators to deliver
full-duplex voice, data and video services, in
ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) format, via
omnidirectional transmitters that provide
coverage over four to six square miles of
territory. The advantage to doing this is that it
avoids the costs of installing high-speed
wireline connections to accomplish comparable
service capabilities.
WinStar, which is conducting a
point-to-multipoint service trial over two
contiguous cell sites in Washington, D.C., said
last week that it will begin testing a new RF
system supplied by Hughes Network Systems,
a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp., in
November, with plans to use the technology
nationwide.
WinStar -- which holds an average of 750 MHz
of spectrum per market in the top 50 regions of
the country -- reaffirmed its intentions to begin
commercial operations of point-to-multipoint
systems in some markets this year. Officials,
however, have recently indicated that they
remained uncertain about product-delivery
dates from vendors.
Teligent, too, is testing point-to-multipoint
technology in Los Angeles, and it is
experimenting with different radio systems
under a systems-integration agreement with
Nortel, spokesman Robert Stewart said.
There is one cloud over Teligent, however: Last
week, House Commerce Committee chairman
Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) criticized a Federal
Communications Commission ruling that freed
up more spectrum for the company.
"Our test in L.A. isn't really so much a test as it
is an ongoing effort to define our design
parameters based on actual performance,"
Stewart said. "We've already demonstrated to
our satisfaction that the technology delivers
what we need."
But while Teligent intends to launch commercial
services in 10 markets this year, it remains to
be seen whether point-to-multipoint technology
will figure prominently in the early rollouts.
"We'll probably do point- to-point applications in
areas [within a given market] where there are
cost advantages to that approach, but it's our
intention to offer point-to-multipoint services, as
well," Stewart said.
Teligent recently gained some ground on the
regulatory front: The FCC ruled that it acted
properly in shifting Teligent to the 24-GHz
spectrum tier from 18 GHz, granting it a fourfold
increase in spectrum in the process. The
commission had come under pressure from the
military to free up the 18-GHz tier in the Denver
and Washington, D.C., markets.
Several companies challenged the March 1997
order implementing the spectrum shift, which
triggered the FCC's reconsideration.
But Bliley -- who questioned the FCC's handling
of the Teligent matter earlier this year --
remained skeptical that the commission acted
properly in expanding Teligent's spectrum
allocation to an average of 300 MHz to 400
MHz in 30 major markets without putting the
matter out for public comment.
Bliley, in a letter sent to FCC chairman William
Kennard July 28, blasted the commission,
contending that it appeared to have
"manufactured" the national-security rationale
that it used as part of a backroom effort to
resolve a spectrum dispute between Teligent
and Teledesic Corp., the broadband-satellite
company founded by cellular-phone pioneer
Craig McCaw and Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill
Gates.
Bliley said he had documents showing that the
White House and commission officials
threatened to open the spectrum question to a
public proceeding if parties to the proposed
deal did not accept it. Such a threat would
indicate that the FCC considered a public
proceeding as feasible, despite its assertion
that avoiding such a proceeding was mandated
by military urgency, Bliley said.
"I am troubled by the commission's apparent
attempt to manufacture a national-security
rationale in order to justify bypassing traditional
notice-and-comment rulemaking, as well as by
the utter lack of accountability by the
commission's personnel with respect to this
important procedural decision," Bliley said in
his letter.
"Moreover, I am concerned that the FCC may
consider its legal obligation to consider the
views of the public in making regulatory
decisions as nothing more than leverage to be
used against private parties in order to achieve
a desired outcome," he added.
FCC sources said Kennard had not responded
to the Bliley letter. With the summer
Congressional recess looming, sources on
Capitol Hill suggested that further action in the
matter would be delayed until September.
While Bliley made it clear that he was not
threatening to undo the spectrum allocation to
Teligent, the information turned up in his probe
could prove to be valuable to any of the parties
to the matter that might want to pursue it further,
either at the FCC or in the courts, said one
source who is a participant in the dispute.
"What you have here is pretty significant stuff if
there are e-mails and memos backing up
Bliley's assertions," said the source, asking not
to be named.
Spokesmen for BellSouth Corp., DirecTv Inc.'s
DirecTv Enterprises Inc. unit and the Millimeter
Wave Carrier Association -- all of which sought
the FCC reconsideration of the Teligent
allocation -- said these entities were still
studying the ruling, and they were not prepared
to say what, if any, further action they might take.
"From a legal perspective, we still see
problems with what they did," said an attorney
for one of the parties, asking not to be named.
Further clouding the wireless-broadband
scenario is the pace of licensing of LMDS
auction winners at the FCC.
So far, the commission has granted licenses
representing 479 of 864 winning bids --
including the 150-MHz B-block segment, as well
as the 1.15-GHz A-block segment -- said an
FCC official, who requested anonymity.
But many of the more important licenses --
including those of the leading bidder, WNP
Communications Inc. -- are still on hold, pending
completion of the application-review process,
the official added.
The commission hopes to complete the
licensing process this summer, but it could take
longer, the FCC official said.
"These things sometimes have a way of taking
longer than you'd like," he noted.
PS, I got this sent to me by e-mail. I can't reference the magazine it's from but the author is mentioned above.
Cheers,
Peppe |
