MADRID, Spain-While third-generation services have grabbed most of the limelight in wireless news, in Spain a group of companies has been quietly rolling out high-speed voice and data services using LMDS technology. The first of these is FirstMark, which recently unveiled broadband services in 26 Spanish cities, offering transmission speeds from 2 Megabits per second to 4 Mbps.
To date, the company has invested $154 million in Spain and plans to shell out more than e268 million $250.8 million by 2004, when it plans to be present in 177 cities. FirstMark claims its main customer base, small and medium sizes businesses, could save from 15 percent to 40 percent by using LMDS as opposed to other broadband services.
While FirstMark may be the first, there are several other companies vying for a slice of the LMDS pie in Spain. These include Abrared and Banda-Ancha, which will operate in the 3.5 GHz spectrum with FirstMark. Broadnet, Sky Point and Banda 26 will operate at 26 GHz. These companies present perhaps the first serious challenge to Telefonica’s monopoly of local loops.
