According to the New York Times, Telcos and wireless providers are losing upwards to 30,000+ subscribers and prospects respectively a month to retail last mile providers. Those numbers are only going to go up. The Broadband in a Box white label wholesale solution can stem that tide, where you can compete and win with a lower latency and cost and higher uptime solution today. You might as well have subscribers left to upgrade to your terrestrial solutions right?
Thomas William
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CHARLOTTE — Editor's note: Charlotte Beat is a regular feature on Wednesdays.FairPoint Communications is going into the "Wi-Fi" business.
Hoping to capitalize on one of the hottest growth sectors in telecommunications, the Charlotte-based operator of rural local exchange companies said Tuesday that it would install 802.11b Wi-Fi standard wireless equipment for 20 rural communities.
FairPoint, which was founded in 1991, now operates 29 RLECs across 18 states, including Georgia, Florida and Virginia.
"We are continually looking for ways to provide advanced services to our rural customers, services that otherwise are not available from other service providers because of their economic considerations," said Bob Ingram, senior vice president of operations and engineering for FairPoint, in a statement.
Wireless local area network services revenues are expected to total $2.8 billion in 2002, up from $2.1 billion in 2001, according to Dataquest. Some 26.5 million wireless LAN units are expected to be sold this year, up from 15.5 million units in 2002, and growth is projected to be strong through at least 2007, according to Dataquest.
Using the 802.11b wireless service will enable FairPoint to offer high-speed Internet and data services to business users and consumers without having to install fiber or upgrade copper plant for digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
Extending high-speed services the "last mile" has proved to be an expensive challenge, especially for RLECs which service less densely populated areas.
In North Carolina, for example, the Rural Internet Access Authority has used a variety of grants to foster expansion of wireless and other means of high-speed service where telecommunications companies had declined to expand or upgrade.
BellSouth, meanwhile, has launched a high-speed wireless trial in Daytona, FL.
FairPoint chose to license equipment from KeyOn Communications. KeyOn has patent-pending technology for wireless data and operates a citywide network in Las Vegas.
FairPoint did not identify the communities where the service would be offered, nor did it specify costs other than to say the Wi-Fi offering would be a "high quality, cost-effective method to receive broadband."
Jonathan Snyder, chief executive officer of KeyOn, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that FairPoint would offer the service first in central Ohio, upstate New York, Maine and Florida.
Snyder said the licensing deal is the first for KeyOn, which has some 500 customers in Las Vegas. KeyOn has been offering the service for about three months. The service is priced at $24.95 a month plus $50 for installation.
According to its most recent published figures, FairPoint has 245,306 lines, 123 exchanges, and more than 1,100 employees.
The company has not yet released fourth quarter earnings. Through the third quarter 2002, FairPoint reported a 1.7 percent drop in revenues, to $174.3 million, but did improve earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to $33.5 million, up 11.3 percent. For the first nine months of the year, EBITDA hit $100.4 million, up 7.2 percent.
Through Dec. 31, 2001, FairPoint reported revenues of $235 million, EBIDTA of $124 million, and assets of $849 million.
Eugene Johnson, one of the company's co-founders, took over as chief executive officer of FairPoint a year ago and recently was named chairman of the board. He was executive vice president of corporate development before taking over as CEO. Johnson, a graduate of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, is a board member of UNCC's foundation.
