Wireless Data Solutions Answer Broadband Demand
By Marvin V. Greene
In a bandwidth-starved global telecommunications marketplace, wireless broadband access is a solution that cannot be ignored. "Wireless is one of the hottest sectors out there. We're just at the dawn of wireless connectivity to the Internet," says Paul Dittner, an analyst with San Jose, CA.-based market research firm Dataquest Inc. "When you look at the convergence of wireless voice and wireless data, that's really the hottest topic in bringing that combination to consumers."
Wireless infrastructure suppliers, network solution providers and equipment makers understand the emerging role wireless is playing, as evidenced by activity at SUPERCOMM 2000. New companies are entering the market, and traditional players are shoring up their offerings.
Over the next five years, wireless broadband solutions, driven by local telephone and Internet usage, will grow at a compound annual rate of 418 percent, according to The Strategis Group, a telecommunications research and consultant firm in Washington, D.C. And wireless technologies will be an important business segment for many SUPERCOMM exhibitors.
For example, Harris Corp.'s Microwave Communications Division in Redwood Shores, CA., is going to be "more high-profile ? not only within the organization, but also with the operators and carriers in the market ? extolling the virtues of microwave and its capabilities," says Samuel D. Wyman III, division president.
Harris' microwave division is a supplier of point-to-point microwave radio solutions, broadband wireless access solutions and wireless local loop solutions. Wyman calls wireless transport the "unsung hero" of the telecommunications revolution because it complements existing technologies by offering another means to deliver bandwidth ? on-demand to businesses and homes.
"There's going to be cable, there's going to be DSL (digital subscriber line), and there's going to be some satellite," says Wyman, "but there's not normally enough attention paid to the microwave piece of the business, which really allows you to leapfrog and get to places where you can't get with any of those."
That's what wireless solution providers are banking on as the market continues to emerge, according to John Frederick, vice president of the Broadband Wireless Division at ADC Telecommunications Inc. (Minnetonka, MN.). New solutions are emerging on the back of point-to-multipoint wireless spectrum, including Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) technology, which once was allocated to interactive entertainment applications, he says.
Carriers understand that the MMDS spectrum is capable of delivering broadband access at speeds much faster than traditional copper telephone lines and cable modems. Furthermore, burgeoning consumer and corporate demand for broadband service presents a viable business case for MMDS, adds Frederick.
"No matter where you go, there is an insatiable demand for service," he says. "There's an opportunity for operators to get to market quickly."
Wireless broadband revenues will reach $3.4 billion in 2003, up from $11.2 million at the end of 1999, according to John Zahurancik, vice president of broadband information for The Strategis Group (Washington, D.C.). About 34 percent of U.S. households and 45 percent of businesses will be serviceable by broadband wireless networks by 2003. Point-to-multipoint solutions, says Zahurancik, present inexpensive means of entering the broadband market for telephone companies.
In Boston, MCI Worldcom and ADC have been developing and testing an MMDS platform for two-way, high-speed access. MCI Worldcom also has trials underway in Jackson, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, and Memphis, TN Following completion of its proposed merger with Sprint, the combined company expects to have broadband fixed wireless platforms servicing more than 100 U.S. cities by the end of 2001.
"Wireless is about convenience," Dittner of Dataquest says. "The wireless operators want to see somebody carrying around either one device that does everything, or multiple devices that allow you to do voice and data and video and audio over the operator's wireless network. Obviously, a large component for that in the U.S. is going to be cost of service, which will continue to come down."
Operators face three key challenges to market entry, which won't be solved overnight but nonetheless are on a robust pace, Dittner tells SUPERCOMM Daily News. "You've got to have the network to handle advanced applications and data applications. You've got to have the phones that are capable of accessing the network. And you really need to have the applications that are going to be compelling enough to the end-user to generate revenue. So you need those three pieces to come together in order to provide a viable solution," he explains.
The U.S. wireless market has room for much growth, though it will continue to lag Europe by two to three years, according to Philip Meffe, a member of the business development group responsible for international marketing at Astec Advanced Power Systems (Montreal, CAN), whichsupplies power systems for communications equipment. While standards in Europe are more uniform so wireless systems span multiple countries, the United States is characterized as a "hodge-podge of different systems and standards," says Meffe. And 70 percent of U.S. wireless systems still use analog technology, he says. "You're going to need significant changes over the next couple of years to handle data seamlessly across North America. It will happen. You're going to first have a change from analog to digital, and the impact should be relatively seamless in the cell sites. As data traffic begins to take hold, what we're going to begin to see are cell sites becoming smaller, and more cell sites," says Meffe.
Part of Europe's lead stems from faster deployment of 3G networks and applications, particularly in Finland and the United Kingdom, according to Douglas Leahey, Astec marketing and business development manager. Japanese operators are also on a fast track for 3G infrastructure.
With 3G technologies, "you're going to start to have a seamless network across the country and continent," says Leahey, adding that metered European pricing for wireless services compared with flat-rate pricing in North America has driven the European market by encouraging wireless data transmission. The Strategis Group forecasts that 3G applications in the United States won't be launched until 2004.
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