FAIRFAX, Va.-Fixed wireless is the best method for providing last-mile broadband while fiber is best for long haul, an executive of a fixed-wireless company told the Global Internet Summit last week.
“WinStar’s conviction is that fixed wireless is the most cost effective to provide last-mile broadband to users,” said Timothy R. Graham, executive vice president and general counsel for WinStar Communications Inc. “We must use each technology for what it does best. Fiber for long haul, fixed wireless for last-mile and satellite for rural. One size does not fit all.”
WinStar is rolling out a broadband solution for small and medium-sized businesses in large cities including the top 50 markets globally. It is not, at this time, marketing its services to residential users.
“We are focused on business-to-business because that is where the demand is today … business-to-business applications are skyrocketing,” Graham said.
This niche marketing concept has had a negative impact on getting access to spectrum globally, Graham said. “There is a strong sentiment in some countries of handing over the airwaves to foreigners … Targeting only a niche is seen as a negative,” he said.
Another problem for WinStar, Graham said, is when countries-through their regulatory bodies-set unrealistic expectations. “WinStar is not willing to set unrealistic expectations … Regulatory policies that set up unrealistic expectations will hinder” the growth of the Internet, he said.
WinStar would like to see less of a “crazy quilt scenario” to spectrum access and more global cooperation.
The global allocation of spectrum for fixed wireless has not received the attention at the domestic level that other issues, such as third-generation wireless, have received. Global spectrum allocation decisions will be made at the upcoming WRC meeting in Istanbul in May and June.
