NEW ORLEANS-AirNet Communications Corp., Melbourne, Fla., plans to announce Global System
for Mobile communications 900 MHz and 1800 MHz systems at the GSM World Congress later this month, AirNet
President and CEO Lee Hamilton told RCR at Wireless ’99. The move will allow the company to position itself in less
mature GSM markets such as Africa and Southeast Asia.
AirNet currently offers GSM 1900 infrastructure solutions
and has contracts with C through F block personal communications services providers in the United States valued at
$115 million, said Hamilton. Contracts in 1998 included Carolina PCS, Message Express, CM-PCS L.L.C., Webtel
Wireless Inc., Pinpoint Communication and Panhandle Telecommunications Systems.
The company markets its
solution as an inexpensive alternative for building out networks, as well as for filling in coverage gaps. Hamilton said
he hopes to garner A- and B-block PCS carrier contracts to help fill in their networks.
This can be done, Hamilton
explained, because its base stations can interface to any GSM switch, meaning AirNet can sell its infrastructure to a
carrier that already uses systems from a different GSM manufacturer.
AirNet doesn’t traditionally provide switches
itself, but can if a carrier requests a turnkey system, he added.
AirNet products include broadband base stations as
well as AirSite backhaul-free base stations that enable carriers to reuse spectrum the service operator already has
licensed to communicate with the rest of the base station network, rather than backhauling the traffic through wireline
or fixed microwave links.
“It’s really been a great year for AirNet,” said Hamilton. “Not only have
we continued to successfully deploy our GSM infrastructure products in the field, but our revenues have taken off as
service providers realize [our] backhaul-free solution offers the best possible business case for wireless
infrastructure.”
AirNet last year won the GSM World Award for Best Technical Innovation at the 1998 GSM
World Congress in Cannes, France.
