- GeoLinks and Intracom Telecom plan to demo multi-gigabit fixed wireless at the WISPAPALOOZA show
- Licensed spectrum opens new urban and enterprise opportunities for WISPs, said GeoLinks’ CTO
- The FWA industry has been plotting more urban expansion, like Verizon’s Starry has done
The future of fixed wireless access (FWA) may include bigger cities with higher speeds. GeoLinks and vendor Intracom Telecom this week plan to showcase what they said will be the first live U.S. demo of multi-gigabit FWA using 29/31GHz licensed millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum.
Intracom Telecom says its platform can deliver 2.4 Gbps per customer premises equipment (CPE). That's notable given operators like Verizon and T-Mobile currently offer up to 1-gig for FWA service, and that depends on how much capacity they have that’s not allocated for cellular coverage.
Indeed, it is spectrum that is key for WISPs looking to expand into urban areas, according to GeoLinks CTO Sanyogita Shamsunder. She would know. Shamsunder notably spent more than 15 years at Verizon working on the operator's 5G planning and product strategy before leaving the company in 2022.
GeoLinks acquired LMDS licenses from Verizon in 2021 and now offers FWA service in California and parts of Arizona and Nevada. In addition to building out its own network, the company’s looking to lease its spectrum to enterprises and carriers, per a Wave7 Research report from April.
Shamsunder told Fierce WISPs could tap into GeoLink’s spectrum to bring FWA to multi-dwelling units (MDUs) where “there may be fiber passing by but not necessarily” a home connection. They could also use it to branch out into the enterprise market, she added.
Because GeoLink’s Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) spectrum is licensed, “you don’t have to coordinate with anybody else in terms of availability, [there’s] less interference especially in dense areas where sometimes it’s hard to even get a channel up,” Shamsunder said, noting unlicensed spectrum has a lot of “noise and usage in that band.”
Like any band for FWA, LMDS isn’t foolproof. “The spectrum is high and has poor propagation but can be used for high bandwidth applications at a short distance using line-of-sight,” Wave7 Research noted.
An Intracom Telecom spokesperson said a single base station using its technology can reach around 120 different customer terminals, with coverage extending up to five miles.
Shamsunder didn’t say if there are WISPs using GeoLinks spectrum yet, but she noted, “we are open to having partnerships.” She added: “Obviously we are going to be deploying in our footprint, but that’s something we are excited about."
Urban FWA is on the rise
The GeoLinks and Intracom Telecom demo, which will take place at the WISPAPALOOZA show in Las Vegas, comes as the FWA industry plots further urban expansion.
Most WISPs thus far have focused on covering underserved, rural locations, but a Q4 2024 study from the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) estimated FWA has an addressable urban market of about 14.6 million U.S. households.
Verizon, which has started to deploy mmWave for urban FWA, announced last week it is acquiring Starry to add about 100,000 MDU customers to its footprint.
Tarana also highlighted the potential to reach denser markets with its new G2 platform. The vendor, which uses a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, told Fierce G2 can deliver fixed wireless to about 2,000 customers per tower.
Shamsunder added FWA can be beneficial as a backup for enterprises that have fiber in the event of an outage.
“For enterprises now, especially from a cloud connectivity perspective, you’re always looking for backup,” she said. “A fiber cut renders you really powerless for several days if not weeks. So having a backup is important.”
GeoLinks does provide fiber for business customers as well. It offers up to 10 Gbps with its ClearFiber network and services such as cloud on-ramping and SD-WAN.