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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (9528)	12/6/2000 10:08:28 PM
From: rr_burns	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

Ray, There is a notable element if one reads beyond the part you were entertained by. I find it interesting that Cisco and Wi-LAN are perceivable as peers in the article as suppliers to SPRINT and WORLDCOM. Given WIN and CISCO are in a legal bearhug over Radiata (& ieee802.11a) one has to think that there is a _lot_ going on behind the scenes here. Those unnamed infrastructure providers with the "compelling products" (2nd last sentence in the excerpt below) likely are waiting for clarity over the ieee stuff. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "[But] we’ve got five markets now, and probably five to seven coming up" in the next two months. He says Sprint should have 30 to 40 next year. In addition to this month’s launch in Memphis, WorldCom has filed for licenses in 16 markets. It hopes to have 20 or 30 regional networks by the end of 2001. "We cover 40% of households," says WorldCom’s Barnes. "Approximately 50% of the population." WorldCom, he says, has more spectrum licenses than anybody, with a wireless footprint bigger "than anyone else in the industry." Consumer reaction, says Robinson, has been tremendous. "We haven’t marketed it; the PR has done it for us." He says Sprint has only to announce service in an area and — boom — "we’ll generate as much business as [we] can handle for several months." In the Tucson market Sprint provisioned one customer who happened to be an online columnist and member of a Mac user group. "Now we’ve got Mac users coming from everywhere," smiles Robinson. People, he says, are eager for the service "once word of mouth gets around." Sprint has found it easy to educate consumers about wireless access. "We often tell them to think about direct broadcast satellite TV," says Robinson. "They get it." The paucity of service providers and active networks at the moment hasn’t deterred equipment manufacturers from embracing MMDS. Many vendors, including Cisco and Wi-LAN, see numbers like Barnes’ "50% of the population" and start scrambling to redesign UNII band equipment or develop new products. Says Barnes, "The industry right now is very new. There are a lot of infrastructure equipment providers out there that are coming up with some very compelling products that we’re evaluating." WorldCom is currently trialing a number of different products in Boston and Dallas.