Azulstar launches WiMAX at 3.65 GHz, with Alvarion equipment

Peggy Albright — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:32:26 -0400

While the U.S. wireless broadband industry is preoccupied following the big names in WiMAX, Sprint and Clearwire, smaller players are pushing ahead with their own WiMAX service and product offerings. Today, a little known municipal WiFi provider based in Grand Haven, Mich., announced it has launched several WiMAX networks in Western Michigan and New Mexico. The new services are of added interest because they operate in the relatively new 3.65 GHz band. Azulstar is using Alvarion's 802.16e BreezeMAX 3650 base stations and CPEs for use at 3.65 GHz.

Azulstar said it has been testing the WiMAX service since February in the West Michigan area, and it is now formally launching the service in the communities of Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Ferrysburg and Spring Lake, among some other locations. In New Mexico, it is launching services in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, and it has additional markets under construction. The company offers WiMAX Internet and voice services targeted to businesses, homes, and governmental customers. It prices its service for businesses starting at under $275 per month, and phone and Internet home bundles beginning at $40 per month. It promises symmetric data speeds of 100 Mbps for business connections and speeds of up to 6 Mbps for home users.

Azulstar was one of the first companies to launch municipal WiFi, which it introduced in Grand Haven in 2003, and as such is no stranger to the challenges early entrants can encounter in new markets. Yet it has said that it believes WiMAX represents a better business proposition in municipal settings because it can be more economical to deploy while offering better performance and reliability. The company has high hopes for WiMAX in the 3.65 GHz band, claiming to have registered the largest number of base station sites for this use.

Earlier this month, NextPhase Wireless announced it had deployed mobile WiMAX in 3.65 GHz spectrum in Orange County, Calif. Towerstream and Pipeline Wireless are two other companies developing 3.65 GHz WiMAX services.

For more:
- read the release

Related articles:
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Towerstream to launch commercial 802.16e
Muni-WiFi player Azulstar shifts gears to WiMAX
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FCC: NextPhase a go for WiMAX

Muni-WiFi player Azulstar shifts gears to WiMAX

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

Muni-WiFi vendor Azulstar said it plans to upgrade all of its existing muni-WiFi networks with WiMAX. Using equipment from Airspan Networks and Redline Communications, Azulstar will roll out WiMAX across 15 cities in the Midwest and Southwest, including the nation's first muni-WiFi market Grand Haven, Mich., which will be the first market to upgrade. The vendor is using licensed 3.6 GHz spectrum.

The WiMAX network is in final stages of testing in Grand Haven and first customers are being connected. The network will overlay the existing unlicensed WiFi mesh networks, which will continue to operate supporting visitors and residential customers as long as there is demand. Legacy WiFi customers wanting to move to WiMAX will receive a discount toward their adapter.

Azulstar, which cites WiMAX as having better economics, performance and reliability, said it will continue its strategy of owning and operating municipal wireless networks in regions where it can also deploy licensed-spectrum WiMAX. In existing Azulstar projects where WiFi technology is the only viable option due to spectrum limitations, Azulstar has migrated to a subcontractor role, assisting the municipalities and partners achieve their goals, but no longer acting as the network owner.

To find out more about Azulstar's WiMAX plans:
- check out this release

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