1. Service Provider Mobility: WIMAX for US
Colleges and Universities
Posted by Paul Sergeant Dec 11, 2009
Largely unknown to the general public, many U.S. state agencies, universities,
and public and private schools were long ago granted Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) licenses for wireless spectrum. Some of these governmental
and educational entities have since leased the spectrum to wireless service
providers, many of whom—especially in sparsely populated areas—have yet to
activate service.
But now the clock is ticking. The FCC deadline to demonstrate “substantial”
services (providing coverage to at least 20% of the population in a service area,
typically within a 35-mile radius) using these licenses is looming. Licensees must
activate services by May 2011 or lose their licenses. What’s to be done?
In a word, WiMAX. Either built by the licensee or deployed through a partner.
But first, a little history. In 1962, the FCC allocated spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band that
was reserved for use by educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to transmit
instructional television programming to local schools and colleges. Those were the days of
analog, microwave broadcasting. Fast forward to 2005, when technology had changed so
significantly that the FCC created a revised plan for low power cellular operations for two-
way data networks using the same 2.5 GHz spectrum. The FCC now calls it the Educational
Broadband Service (EBS). The new band plan shifts the focus from television to high-speed
data networks for educational purposes.
With the window to use these licenses closing, WiMAX is an extremely cost-effective,
dependable solution that is ready for prime time. EBS licensees can either:
• Build the WiMAX service themselves
• Build and deploy the service for themselves and then generate revenue and reduce costs by acting as a
master hub in a region, providing the back office infrastructure and management to other licensees with
fewer resources
Generated by Jive SBS on 2010-05-25-06:00
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2. Service Provider Mobility: WIMAX for US Colleges and Universities
• Activate services by partnering with one of the above licensees that is part of the National Educational
Broadband Service Association (NEBSA) and has deployed WiMAX and rely on them to help plan, deploy,
and manage the service
WiMAX now provides these governmental and educational licensees with a way
to monetize spectrum that has been around since the 1960s. WiMAX is…
• About a tenth the cost and provides a much broader coverage area than Wi-Fi
• Much more economical than DSL, cable, or fiber—especially in rural and sparsely populated
areas of the country
• Able to support Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs
• Being taken seriously by major manufacturers, who are scrambling to build WiMAX radios and CPE before
Tier 1 mobile operators deploy LTE using the same 2.5 GHz spectrum
So EBS licensees, what are you waiting for? Find out more about the FCC guidelines for
EBS licenses today. Then contact the NEBSA for help with deploying your service, before
time runs out.
628 Views Tags: wireless, mobile, mobility, wimax, fcc, spectrum
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Generated by Jive SBS on 2010-05-25-06:00
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