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Telecom Business

Guerrilla Broadband

January 31, 2001

Most analysts base their predictions on the assumption that fixed wireless is best suited for the "wire hole" - underserved bare spots where it's too expensive for service providers to deploy either DSL or cable modem services. That viewpoint, says Michael Greeson, an analyst with Parks Associates, reflects what Sprint and WorldCom initially said when they were snapping up wireless spectrum licenses in 1998 and 1999.

"But then look what happened," Greeson says. "When Sprint began offering fixed-wireless service last year, did they go to underserved areas? No, they went to Detroit and Silicon Valley. Then they went to Houston. Are these rural, underserved markets? Of course not."

As a result, Greeson now predicts fixed wireless will mushroom its way to a 17 percent share of the market by 2004. And if the second-generation systems fulfill their promise, he thinks that number could go substantially higher.

From the article "Guerrilla Broadband," by Scott M. Gawlicki.

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