Wireless broadband service provider Clearwire Corp. racked up a deal to build its first municipal WiMAX network in Grand Rapids, Mich., after the city council unanimously approved the company’s bid to connect the city’s 45 square miles with WiMAX coverage.
The deal marks Clearwire’s first contract to build a WiMAX network as part of a municipal project, though the company was expected to launch its WiMAX service in Grand Rapids with or without the city’s muni-network contract. Nevertheless, Clearwire beat out nine other proposals from Wi-Fi traditionalists such as AT&T Inc./IBM Corp., EarthLink Inc., NeoReach Inc. and Pronto Networks.
The city said Clearwire will own and operate the wireless broadband network delivering mobile, portable and nomadic data service throughout Grand Rapids. Though WiMAX gear is expected to dominate the network’s architecture, the city said Wi-Fi equipment also will be installed at numerous hybrid hot-spot locations.
Sally Wesorick, wireless project manager for Grand Rapids, told RCR Wireless News that the city’s decision to go with Clearwire and its WiMAX offering was based on several factors.
First and foremost, as Wesorick and her team traveled around the country to test already-deployed Wi-Fi and WiMAX networks, WiMAX proved to provide more robust and reliable service than Wi-Fi.
Under trees and in the car
“In the Clearwire markets we visited, it was difficult to find a location that was not covered by WiMAX,” said Wesorick. “We tested under trees, in parking ramps and in the internal upper-floor conference rooms of large hotels streaming video, sending e-mail, etc. We tested at highway speeds and remained connected with a home modem plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter. With Wi-Fi, we had trouble keeping the signal.”
In addition, Wesorick explained that her team deemed WiMAX to be more capable of carrying Grand Rapids into the technological future. While Wi-Fi is all the rage in muni-broadband networks circles now, Wesorick said, “We feel like WiMAX will meet our needs into the future, but also right now.”
And of course, part of the city’s decision involved the WiMAX ecosystem. With Intel-chipped data cards for PCs coming next year, and embedded WiMAX chips in laptops soon after, Wesorick said the timing of Clearwire’s deployment in Grand Rapids will coincide nicely with the availability of more convenient WiMAX products for end users.
Clearwire to pay $100k
Interestingly, Clearwire’s contract with Grand Rapids specifies that the company will reimburse the city $100,000 for the costs associated with selecting a vendor since the city vowed to provide broadband coverage at no expense to its taxpayers. Wesorick confirmed that the contract also requires Clearwire to maintain 99.9-percent reliability of the network, along with redundancy. And, the operator must administer a 24-hour per day, 7-days per week, 365-days per year network operations center that can place a repair technician at sites as needed within 45 minutes of having received a call for help. Because the WiMAX network will be used by Grand Rapids public-safety organizations, the city also required that all sites be equipped with 6-hour battery backups along with power generators.
Clearwire will provide discounted service for $10 per month to up to 5 percent of the city’s low-income citizens. For visitors and random users, who may not have WiMAX-capable devices, free Wi-Fi hot spots will be available across the city.
Wesorick added that Clearwire is also required to provide local ISPs with wholesale access to the network so that they have the opportunity to resell Internet access services in the area.
For all the requirements spelled out in the contract, Clearwire will maintain ownership of the network and has free reign to market and sell services as it sees fit. The city and Clearwire will swap funds to cover other costs. Basically, after all is said and done, the city will pay as much for its public-safety and muni-network access as Clearwire will pay for its access to certain city properties to be used for the network’s buildout.
“Clearwire will pay established asset lease fees and has agreed to a cost-neutral arrangement whereby the cost of public-safety and other municipal wireless broadband services will be offset by asset lease payments and additional partnership fees granted by Clearwire to the city,” said Scott Buhrer, chief financial officer of Grand Rapids.
Wesorick said planning for the city’s wireless broadband network began about two years ago and has from its inception included talks with officials from nearby cities, counties, school districts and other entities. But Wesorick is quick to point out that what is right for Grand Rapids may not be right for another city or county.
“Each community has to look at and prioritize why they want to build a network and what they want it to do,” explained Wesorick. “You can’t just re-use another city’s RFP.”
Craig Settles, muni Wi-Fi project analyst, believes that if all goes well with Grand Rapids’ WiMAX network, other cities will follow.
“People will start to think that WiMAX is the future of where everything is going, so why not build it out now,” said Settles. “Grand Rapids will likely only use 10 to 15 towers to cover Grand Rapids with WiMAX, and the network is supposed to deliver greater speeds over longer distances compared to Wi-Fi. But the ultimate question of its success comes down to end-user devices. Enough people will have to buy into the mobile WiMAX devices. Consumers will decide whether the technology gains traction.”
Last month, Clearwire launched WiMAX services in its hometown of Seattle, bringing the Craig McCaw-backed wireless ISP’s service deployments to 31 markets, covering more than 8 million potential subscribers and serving about 162,000 actual subscribers. Clearwire controls between 12 and 198 megahertz of spectrum in markets covering 210 million potential customers across the country. The company’s service uses a proprietary, pre-WiMAX technology and offers an alternative to DSL and cable connections.
In addition, Clearwire also recently launched a mobile WiMAX trial in Oregon. Depending on the level of success Clearwire experiences during its mobile WiMAX trial, the ISP could shift into the mobile wireless arena offering voice, data and video using mobile WiMAX technology.
