Sprint MMDS fixed wireless announcement:
Tuesday August 22 2:34 PM ET
Sprint Seeks to Expand Fixed-Wireless
Services
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Long-distance telephone company Sprint Corp
(NYSE:FON - news) said on Tuesday it filed applications to offer
fixed-wireless communications services in 45 markets in the United States in
a move to expand its transmission of high-speed Internet and data services.
Fixed-wireless services send data, Internet and video services through the air
rather than over fiber-optic cables or copper-telephone wires.
Sprint filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission to
expand its high-speed Internet service to new markets such as Chicago,
Denver, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Sprint's Broadband Direct service currently is available in Tucson and
Phoenix, Ariz.. It expects to file applications for additional markets next year.
``With these filings, Sprint becomes 'spectrum-ready' to continue our aggressive roll-out of markets for the
balance of this year and in 2001,'' said Tim Sutton, president of Sprint's Broadband Wireless Group.
``Not only are we prepared to move into 45 additional markets, but we will have enough spectrum to deliver
service to our first 2 million customers,'' Sutton said.
Sprint's Broadband Direct customers can download information at speeds of about one million bits per second
(1 Mbps), bursting up to five millions bits of data per second (5 Mbps). In comparison, a standard telephone
modem connects typically at less than 56,000 bits per second (56 Kbps). Sprint charges residential customers
$39.95 a month for the service.
The Broadband Direct service uses multichannel, multipoint distribution service (MMDS) technology. That
technology was used in the past to provide wireless cable television service.
Technological difficulties and production problems, however, hobbled the wireless cable industry's efforts to
compete successfully against the traditional cable TV providers.
Many of the wireless cable companies filed for bankruptcy, but the spectrum became very attractive to
long-distance telephone companies, such as Sprint, as a way to bridge the gap between long-distance networks
and customer homes or businesses.
Last year, Sprint and its former merger partner WorldCom Inc. (NasdaqNM:WCOM - news) bought several
small companies with MMDS licenses, snatching up inexpensive wireless spectrum that could be upgraded for
two-way, high-speed Internet services. |
