Rural telecommunications provider Citizens Wireless reported plans to begin deploying a wireless broadband network using Flarion Technologies Inc.’s Flash-OFDM technology covering parts of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford, Va.
Citizens said the network will use its 700 MHz licensed spectrum and be available to business and residential customers, state universities, and local public and safety organizations.
“Flarion is excited by the opportunity to deploy 700 MHz networks for wide-reaching services,” said Michael Gallagher, president of Flarion. “The 700 MHz bad is a very cost-effective frequency to provide mobile broadband service in both rural and urban areas, delivering superior in-building signal quality for Citizens’ customers.”
Flarion added that its technology will provide average network speeds of between 1 megabit and 1.5 megabits per second on the downlink and 300 kilobits to 500 kilobits per second on the uplink.
The first phase of the deployment is scheduled for later this year.
Cellular One of Amarillo/Texas has deployed a wireless broadband network using Flarion’s technology, while Nextel Communications Inc. recently completed a trial of the technology in parts of North Carolina. Flarion also noted that Finland’s Digita Oy recently said it would use Flarion’s Flash-OFDM technology for a nationwide wireless broadband network using the 450 MHz spectrum band.
