Of the 14 markets it’s already serving with fixed and portable WiMAX service, DigitalBridge Communications (DBC) thinks Jackson Hole, Wyo. is the place to launch its first mobile WiMAX service.
Using Alvarion’s technology and 193 MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz range, DBC is already up and running with mobile broadband service available to 3,000 residences, businesses and municipal customers in the chic mountain resort community. And it’s doing this as very few, if any, mobile WiMAX consumer devices are available.
“In general we’re proving out the business case on a fixed and portable basis in these (14) smaller markets and then mobility is just an additional layer that’s going to continue to drive take rates and ARPU,” said Kelley Dunne, DBC’s CEO. “Jackson Hole was selected because of the amount of visitors coming through from the mobile perspective, but we’re proving out WiMAX technology in a variety of markets with various sized entities and economic indicators.”
One of the seeming risks for rolling out mobile WiMAX in an area as affluent as Jackson Hole is that the potential subscriber base may already of have mobile broadband, per se, via 3G devices. Dunne dismisses that by pointing out that mobile WiMAX, which he considers mobile 4G, takes it to another level and that it’s “much further along than 4G LTE. We’re finding immediate needs, immediate uses and immediate applications and immediate market opportunities.”
The DBC business model, he said, mimics one being developed by the new Sprint-driven Clearwire: start with fixed and portable and migrate to mobile. Clearwire, though, doesn’t have the deep spectrum that DBC can bring to the party.
“In the markets they are looking at to deploy it they have on average 80 to 100 MHz of spectrum which is going to be needed because the demand for mobile broadband is doubling every year according to recent reports and you’re just going to need that substantial spectrum position,” he said. “We’re rolling out areas where we have a dominant spectrum position.”
The fixed and portable business is doing well every where it’s rolled out, attracting about 20 percent penetration for subscribers migrating from DSL or “in many cases … where there isn’t adequate coverage from DSL and cable modem service,” he said.
Mobile will be something else.
“We view ourselves working more in collaboration and cooperation with larger providers because our markets are smaller markets that are our focus and my not be of immediate focus for some of the larger folks deploying WiMAX networks,” he said.
The subscribers are there; the market topography — about 800 to 1,200 households per square mile — is there; but are the devices there to make this all happen?
“DBC will have the opportunity to pick any devices that are certified by WiMAX Forum in the next several months and introduce them to this network,” said Ashis Sharma, vice president of corporate market development at Alvarion.
That’s good enough for Dunne.
“There are 3.6 million WiMAX subscribers today globally and the estimate in the next four years are tens of millions of subscribers,” he pointed out. “There’s already a global ecosystem established and we’re really at the top of the iceberg of what can be done in the U.S.”
And besides, he concluded, “PC cards are here and available today; USB dongles, embedded laptops, other devices, I’m extremely confident those will be available hitting the market in the next six months.”
Just in time for ski season, coincidentally or not.