SARASOTA, Fla.—Mobile Voice over Internet Protocol developer xG Technology L.L.C. said it is launching a nationwide deployment program of xMax, the company’s new mobile VoIP service. The company said it’s accepting applications from dealers and will award exclusive territories to regional carriers for rollouts of mobile VoIP services with the first systems expected to be online in the first quarter of 2007.
XG Technology explained that its patented xMax technology uses unlicensed wireless spectrum, eliminating the need for cost-intensive licensed airwaves. What’s more, the company said it has proven through trials that on average xMax delivers three times the range of other wireless technologies with comparable power and antenna height. If these claims are true, xMax service would require less investment in both spectrum and infrastructure.
“xMax provides an unprecedented opportunity for regional [Internet service providers], CLECs, local communications carriers and entrepreneurs by reducing the cost of deploying wireless broadband to the point where they can compete with traditional communications companies,” said Rick Mooers, chairman and chief executive officer of xG Technology. “With xG Technology, an xMax regional carrier could deliver a carrier-grade quality mobile VoIP service for thousands of dollars, not the millions that other technologies require in capital network and spectrum licensing costs.”
In late March, privately held xG Technology announced that its first consumer product, a VoIP handset, would be available by the end of this year and that the device would work with low-cost xMax-enabled base stations. The handsets are expected to be dual-mode, equipped with both xMax and Wi-Fi chips, enabling users to roam into areas not covered by the xMax network of base stations.
In addition, xG said the handsets would include Ethernet jacks so that users can plug into data networks for fixed-line VoIP calling.
The company held its first public demonstration of xMax technology for media and investors last November in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In that demonstration, an xMax-equipped transmitter broadcast a 3.67 megabit-per-second signal more than 18 miles using only 35 milliwatts of RF output power. XG said the results showed the xMax signal meets both conducted power and conducted bandwidth requirements for operation within the ISM 900 MHz unlicensed band.
The FCC has already approved the equipment used in the November demonstration, and in February, xG hired the London office of Credit Suisse as a strategic adviser for the company’s technology launch.
The company’s mobile VoIP launch in the United States is somewhat surprising, since Mooers told RCR Wireless News in March that xG would likely launch outside the United States to avoid political wrangling with telecom lobby groups that could view the technology as a threat to U.S. cellular and landline carriers.
“We’re a U.S. company and would prefer to deploy the first systems here, but there has been significant international interest and it may be more prudent to first enter the marketplace in another country,” Mooers said at the time. “In the U.S., we plan to utilize a grassroots marketing campaign to roll xMax out on a viral basis. Consider how the Internet service provider industry was originally built: Companies and institutions put up ISP networks, but so did very small companies and individuals. Our business strategy is to meet an existing demand, not try to create a demand. We’re not trying to be a 3G operator—we’re trying to do simple voice service using off-the-shelf handsets with our chip built into it. Basically, we’re a low-profile company and we’re confident about our technology. We feel we have to be careful, we don’t want to get squashed by a big company.”
