Fixed Wireless 101: County and Municipal Opportunity Overview by Rory Conaway Triad Wireless
County and Town Infrastructure
Internet Delivery Options END USER DIAL-UP DSL CABLE
DSL Technology DSL Bandwidth provided over old telephone lines Typical speed ADSL/3-7Mbps and possibly affected by rain in some areas Maximum speed up to 40Mbps no plans for faster and dependent on distance to Fiber or CO Telecom is abandoning the technology for fiber DSL carriers CenturyLink Frontier AT&T Verizon
Cable Technology Cable Internet Speeds up to 150Mbps down Limited by cable technology although 1Gbps being tested Expensive with constant price increases Almost as high Capex as fiber Cable Carriers Cox Time-Warner Comcast
Fiber Technology Fiber Speeds up to 1Gbps High-Capex and deployments are cherry-picked in high income areas No fiber deployment in the country is profitable, even with subsidies Fiber Providers Google Time-Warner Cox CenturyLink
Cellular/Mobile Wireless Technology Types of Cellular Voice Data GMS Europe CDMA - Verizon/Sprint/Virgin Mobile WiMax up to 40Mbps LTE 4G up to 40Mbps Monthly Data Caps -UBB
Fixed Wireless Technology Fixed Wireless Speeds up to 80Mbps today and 350Mbps within 6 months MU-MIMO and other innovations still being developed Low-Capex Fast deployment Limited to LOS or NLOS
What is a ISP? ISP Internet Service Provider Provides last mile connectivity between the Internet and residential/business customers Last mile delivery technologies includes DSL twisted pair/phone lines Cable - Coax Fiber Wireless
What is a WISP? Wireless Internet Service Provider ( WISP ) Users get small, outdoor antennas mounted by installation technicians 3,000+ WISPs in the U.S. today Largest growth segment in ISP market WISP cost of build-out is substantially less and faster than any other technology Cost per residential installation Wireless - $250-$400 Fiber - $7-$10K Cable - $600-$100
Market Growth U.S. residential broadband market is expected to grow at a 14.3% compound annual growth rate. North American WISP market will increase from approximately 30,000 connection installed bases in 2006 to over 21 million in 2015. There are over 500 million Internet-connected devices now in American homes and businesses.
Reasons for WISP Growth Nobody installing copper any longer Fiber to the Home expensive in suburban and rural areas Wireless speeds are improving to 300+Mbps
WISP Financial Challenges Mainly small, capital limited early-stage businesses Lenders don t understand the industry - traditional finance channels are very limited $250K-2M required (depending on growth rate) Profitability 10-14 months ROI 18-36 months Reasonable costs vertical assets
Revenue Projections Bandwidth costs are $.50 to $15 per MB Average user 400Kbps Revenue per user ranges from $10-$100 per user 5000 users can generate $150k per month
ISP/WISP Skill Sets ISP Skill Sets Business Network Engineering Server Management Linux/Windows Installers Technical/Desktop Support WISP RF Engineering
Why? Why isn t internet better, faster, cheaper? Why isn t there more competition? Why get involved? Why cross the line between public and private? Why public/private partnerships work? Why they don t?
What? What are the residential needs for faster internet? What are the business needs for faster internet? What information is needed to make a decision on how to proceed?
Municipal Options Build to Own Have a contractor Design, Engineer, Build, and operate the system while training staff for operational takeover. Vendor Owned Find a company that has a plan that fits your municipality s goals. Joint Venture/Vendor Owned Find a partner that can provide technical infrastructure and/or funding and will share operational/management control. Design & Engineering of WISP System Build/find towers/vertical assets and NOC (Network operations center) Install Customer Premise Equipment Deployment of infrastructure Sales and Marketing of services
Municipal Options Identify the greatest needs in your city Create programs that make it financially feasible Lower barriers to municipal vertical assets Coordinate with Business and Education Leaders Coordinate with other city communication needs Focus on local company purchases
Summary WISP market is an excellent growth market for small towns or high-cost areas Proven history of performance since 2002 Opportunity to participate in a high yield income stream with significant participation upside Job creation
Contacts Rory Conaway Triad Wireless rory@triadwireless.net 602-426-0542 Ed Vitalos Broadband Implementation Coordinator, ESRGC (M-1) 410.713.9790 (M-2) 410.804.7477 ecvitalos@salisbury.edu greywave1@gmail.com Mary Buffington, GISP Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative Maryland Broadband Cooperative Cell: 443.397.5662 Office: 410.548.3844 mebuffington@salisbury.edu