Carlson Wireless targets WISPs with white-spaces radio

Carlson Wireless Technologies is betting wireless Internet service providers will want to use white-spaces spectrum to enhance their service in hard-to-reach regions. The company recently unveiled RuralConnect IP, a radio that can bring broadband service to those hard-to-reach areas.
“Rural broadband has been stymied. It’s been slow to happen in low teledensity areas,” said Jim Carlson, CEO of Carlson Wireless. The Federal Communications Commission opened up TV white spaces spectrum for unlicensed use, clearing the way for so-called “super Wi-Fi” applications last year in an effort to drive more mobile broadband service.
White-spaces spectrum utilizes spectrum located between TV channels in the VHF and UHF frequencies. Spectrum Bridge Inc. has been a leader in the space, showing how white-spaces spectrum can be used to bring wireless coverage to hard-to-reach areas. Spectrum Bridge has worked with a California utility and Google Inc. to use white-spaces technology to deploy a smart-grid network in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and offer wireless broadband service to area residents. The company also has demonstrated how a white-spaces network can bring wireless Internet connectivity to small towns. The company launched wireless broadband in Claudville, Va., in less than a month. At the time, the network averaged speeds between 700 kilobits per second to 1 Megabit of throughput, and could reach speeds of up to 2 Mbps, but was limited by backhaul constraints.
The network technology is well suited for tough terrain, including areas with a lot of dense foliage and rugged terrain. “It’s perfect as an overlay system,” for existing WISPs that cannot cover customers with wired broadband access, Carlson noted. WISPs sometimes cannot get coverage to as many as one-third of their potential customers because of obstacles that interfere with the signal. The company is not releasing pricing information on the radio but said it is affordable.