REDMOND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Group will launch fixed wireless service in four more markets in the coming months and is partnering with vendors to cope with its aggressive deployment strategy during the next two years.
Following a successful commercial rollout of the service in Dallas in March, AT&T Wireless said it will launch service in Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego and Anchorage, Alaska during the next three months. The carrier, which has been building and supplying its own equipment for the proprietary fixed technology, known as Project Angel, has signed a $250 million agreement with Lucent Technologies Inc. to build and maintain the infrastructure for future market rollouts. More agreements with vendors are expected to follow. AT&T Wireless already has signed an agreement with Motorola Inc. to expand Project Angel internationally.
AT&T Wireless calls itself a virtual corporation. The carrier designs the fixed wireless system itself but outsources certain components of the system along with the construction and maintenance of the network. Lucent will become the primary data networking supplier for AT&T Wireless, which plans to offer service in 75 markets by 2002.
The carrier reports about 2,400 customers in Dallas since it launched Project Angel there in March. It offers up to four phone lines and five Internet service provider lines with data speeds up to 512 megabits per second. By the end of 2000, AT&T Wireless plans to upgrade data speeds to 1 megabit per second. The company’s goal is to launch a total of six markets by the end of the year and sign on 30,000 subscribers.
While AT&T Wireless has launched the fixed wireless service in the 1.9 GHz band in Dallas, the rest of its launches, excluding the San Diego market, will offer service in the Wireless Communications Services 2.3 GHz band, Michael Keith, president and chief executive officer of AT&T’s fixed wireless division, told reporters last week. This will allow the mobile side of AT&T Wireless’ business to gain access to the hundreds of 10-megahertz licenses it won at auction. AT&T Wireless needs the extra spectrum to roll out third-generation services.
AT&T Wireless is deploying Project Angel in areas not covered by the corporation’s cable business, which is working today to upgrade cable lines into telephony and data lines. Some 23 million homes aren’t covered by AT&T Corp.’s cable business.
“Cable covers about 60 percent of homes in any one market,” said Keith. “We’ll add to that.”
This means that Project Angel will have a complementary presence in most markets where cable already is deployed. AT&T Wireless is strategically placing the service around cable footprints.
While the carrier is targeting residential customers today, it will shortly offer service to small businesses. AT&T Wireless won’t go after corporate accounts until it has a large enough footprint, said Keith.
AT&T Wireless also plans to enter affiliate agreements with companies interested in building out Project Angel in markets that have 10,000 households or less, said Keith. AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications Inc. have used this strategy to build out their nationwide mobile-phone footprints. Many are going public.
“We’re going after the large markets,” said Keith. “We’re not going to partner with ILECs. We have enough people interested in forming companies to become an affiliate.”
