DENVER, United States-With services already up and running in the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson, Sprint said it filed a series of applications with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. telecom regulator, to extend its fixed wireless broadband services to 45 additional markets nationwide.
WorldCom, the other majority holder of multichannel multipoint distribution services (MMDS) licenses in the United States, also filed with the FCC the week of 14 August to offer MMDS services to more than 60 U.S. markets. WorldCom said Memphis, Tennessee, will be the first market to receive service sometime during the fourth quarter.
“With these filings, Sprint becomes `spectrum-ready’ to continue our aggressive rollout of markets for the balance of this year and in 2001. 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,” said Tim Sutton, president of Sprint’s Broadband Wireless Group.
Sprint is seeking to build a cellular, rather than a “super cell,” system in six of the markets named in the FCC filings, and this will allow more customers to be reached, according to Sutton.
“Cellularization will enable us to increase coverage and capacity in our larger markets,” Sutton said. “Over time, it will enable us to serve customers that don’t have line-of-sight to one of our towers.”
Sprint Broadband Direct service delivers data speeds of about 1 Megabit per second (Mbps), with burst rates up to 5 Mbps, and costs US$40 per month.
