ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. says it hopes to attract rural, high-speed-Internet-access-deprived customers as it expands its wireless broadband service into Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss., Charleston, S.C. and Albany, Ga.
Set to launch in the new markets during the third quarter, the company said traditional phone lines will not be needed to use its wireless broadband service that will offer Internet access speeds of 1.5 Mbps. The system transmits signals between local radio towers and a small non-line-of-sight desktop subscriber modem, utilizing the company’s licensed 2.3GHz spectrum, BellSouth said.
“With BellSouth Wireless Broadband Service, we can reach even more of our customers with high-speed Internet access,” said Randy Roberts, vice president, Wireless and CPE Management at BellSouth. “One of our primary focuses in these latest deployments has been on our rural customers, some whose only opportunity to experience high-speed Internet is with our wireless broadband service.”
In 2005, BellSouth launched wireless broadband using pre-WiMAX technology in Athens, Ga., and has since offered the service in Palatka, Fla., New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss. and DeLand, Fla. The company said it plans to continue expanding its wireless broadband service to additional cities throughout this year.
Yesterday, BellSouth announced it would begin lab trials next quarter of Alcatel Inc.’s 802.16e-based mobile WiMAX portfolio called Evolium, which operates in the 2.3 GHz spectrum band.
Paulino Barros, chief product officer of BellSouth Retail Markets said testing the newly-ratified 802.16e solution from Alcatel would help BellSouth “assess the viability of offering a simple and seamless WiMAX solution that will extend broadband even further into our network.” Barros also stated, “We are committed to increasing our broadband coverage,” though he didn’t specify when and where it might deploy 802.16e-based WiMAX technology.
