Accenture - A Primer in Wireless Broadband

A Primer in Wireless Broadband

San Francisco, October 2006
Lars Kamp
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)
You are free to Share or Remix any part of this work as long as you attribute this work to Accenture (accenture.com)

Lars Kamp

Management Consulting

Suite 1200
560 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415.894.5423
lars.kamp@accenture.com

© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2

Before we start – a quick contemporary wireless knowledge quiz

1. When was the first U.S. cellular system activated?
2. What was actress Hedy Lamarr’s contribution to the wireless industry back in 1942?
3. How many satellites make up the previously defunct Iridium satellite system?
4. What wireless carrier successfully bid for $4.2 billion for 120 licenses in the September 2006
FCC AWS Auction #66?
5. What’s the estimated value of the wireless spectrum in the US?


Contents

• Spectrum Fundamentals

• Wireless Networking

• Wireless Broadband Economics

• Future Business Challenges


Contents

• Spectrum fundamentals





In the beginning: radio signals and frequencies

Wavelength (λ)

+

Amplitude: Signal strength
Amplitude
One cycle: one complete wave
Frequency (f): # of cycles/second (Hertz)
Time

-
one cycle
The wavelength λ has an inverse relationship to
frequency
The wavelength is equal to the speed of the wave
300 divided by the frequency of the wave
Wavelength λ (m) = For electromagnetic waves this speed is the speed of
Frequency (MHz) light (≅ 3x108m/s) and therefore constant

Source: The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications; Accenture analysis


Basic properties of radio signals

Propagation and range Capacity and bandwidth
• Higher frequency waves travel less distance per cycle than lower frequency • One cycle presents 2 bits: positive and negative peak can carry each 1 bit
waves: higher frequencies oscillate more often per second and therefore the
• As higher frequencies oscillate more often per second, they can carry more
wavelengths become shorter
bits
• The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelength
• The higher the frequency, the higher the channel capacity

λ=40 cm 1s
lower frequency

1

lower frequency
Signal speed = 3 x 108 m/s (const.) T = 1s
Signal 1

Signal 1
f = 750 MHz = 7.5 x 108 cycles/s f = 1/1 = 1 Hertz
λ = 3 / 7.5 = 0.4 m per cycle Data rate: 2 bit/s

λ=14 cm 0

1 1 1 1
higher frequency

higher frequency
Signal speed = 3 x 108 m/s (const.) T = 1s
Signal 2

Signal 2

f = 2,100 MHz = 2.1 x 109 cycles/s f = 4/1 = 4 Hertz
λ = 3 / 21 = 0.14 m per cycle Data rate: 8 bit/s

0 0 0 0

Lower frequencies propagate farer and are Higher frequencies have a higher channel
less sensible to obstruction capacity and offer more bandwidth

Source: Accenture analysis

The Radio Spectrum

Electric Radio Visible Ultra Gamma Cosmic
Infra-red X-Rays
Waves Waves Light Violet Rays Rays

• Frequencies are high enough
Radio Spectrum for there to be large total
bandwidth
• Frequencies are low enough
to allow fairly good
propagation characteristics
“Sweetspot”
3G
LMDS
DECT WiFi
TETRA
Bluetooth
GSM
Long Wave Medium Wave FM Microwave Radio
Radio Radio Radio TV Links
VLF LF MF HF VLF UHF SHF EHF

3 30 300 3 30 300 3 30 300
kHz MHz GHz
10-100km 1-10km 0.1-1km 10-100m 1-10m 0.1-1m 10-100mm 1-10mm
Wavelength
Increasing Range Decreasing Range
Decreasing Bandwidth Increasing Bandwidth
Source: Ofcom, "The Spectrum Framework Review“, November 23, 2004; “The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications”, 2002; Accenture analysis


In the US, the radio frequencies are regulated and allocated by the Federal
Communications Commission

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, October 2003.

Access schemes enable the shared use of a limited medium

FDMA • Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) divides spectrum into frequencies
(“channels”) which then are assigned to users.
Frequency

f3
f2 • With FDMA, only one subscriber at any given time is assigned to a channel. The
f1 channel therefore is closed to other users’ voice or data calls.

Time

TDMA • Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) splits each frequency into time slots and
allows each user to access the entire radio frequency channel for a short period.
Frequency

f1 f2 f3 f1 f2 f3
• Other users share this same frequency channel at different time slots. The base
station continually switches from user to user on the channel.

Time

CDMA Code • Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) allows all users to occupy all channels at
domain the same time.
Frequency

3
2 • Transmissions are spread over the whole radio band, and users occupying the
Spread same spectrum are distinguished from each other by a unique spreading code.
Code 1

Time

Source: ITU, "About mobile technology and IMT-2000", December 1, 2005

Managing downlink and uplink of a wireless connection

FDD: Frequency Division Duplex • A duplexing technique used in licensed
solutions that uses a pair of spectrum
Cell site Radio link Subscriber channels, one for the uplink and another
for the downlink.
U U U U • Proven technology for voice, designed for
Uplink
symmetrical traffic, does not require guard
time.
D D D D D D D D • Cannot be deployed where spectrum is
Downlink
unpaired
• With asymmetric loads, portions of the
spectrum are occupied but not used

TDD: Time Division Duplex

Cell site Radio link Subscriber • A duplexing technique used in license-
exempt solutions, which uses a single
channel for uplink and downlink.
D U U D D U U D • Enhanced flexibility, easier to pair with
smart antenna technologies, asymmetrical
Up- and downlink
• Cannot transmit and receive at the same
time.

Radio resource units


“Spectral efficiency” is a measure of a technology’s efficacy at exploiting its
allocated spectrum

• Spectral efficiency (bits/s/Hz) is a measure
• Spectral efficiency is a good proxy for the
of the performance of encoding methods
relative cost of wireless network equipment and
that code information as variations in an
sites in a radio network.
analog signal.
• Direct comparison is often tricky, as figures
• An encoding using a 1 kHz of bandwidth to
tend to be exaggerated due to test in different
transmit a thousand bits every second has a
lab environments.
spectral efficiency of 1 bit/s/Hz.
• Spectral efficiency kicks in with rising
• Rule of thumb: the actual capacity in a
subscriber numbers and usage: the number of
multi-cell environment for any wireless
sites required by less spectrally efficient
technology is about 20%-30% of the peak
technologies can grow dramatically.
theoretical data rate due to self-interference.

Source: Industry interviews, ArrayComm, Accenture analysis.


Modulation: applying Moore’s Law to radio
Analog Modulation Digital Modulation

1 0 1 The modulation scheme impacts the available throughput
Amplitude
40 37
Modulation

(Mbps) per 10 MHz
Raw Throughput
t 30 25

Channel
20
12
10
1 0 1
Frequency 0
Modulation QPSK 16QAM 64QAM
Modulation scheme
t
• Digital modulation - also referred to as shift keying - is a modulation in
which the modified parameter of the carrier signal can take only discrete
values (on/off).
1 0 1 • Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Phase • Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Modulation • Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
• The higher modulation rate is reached through compressing a signal to the
t fewest number of bits necessary while maintaining fidelilty.
• Higher-rate and more robust modulation schemes enable higher
bandwidth, farer reach and better QoS.
Source: Lehman Brothers, Accenture analysis.

The distance-bandwidth trade-off: adaptive modulation means that speed will vary
with range

Data speed and range of WIMAX at 3.5 GHz

Modulation & Code Rate
Channel QPSK QPSK 16QAM 16QAM 64QAM 64QAM 64QAM
Bandwidth 1/2 3/4 1/2 3/4 1/2 2/3 3/4

1.25 MHz 1.04 1.56 2.08 3.12 3.12 4.16 4.68 A B C D EF

1.75 MHz 1.45 2.18 2.91 4.36 4.36 5.82 6.55
r
3.5 MHz 2.91 4.36 5.82 8.73 8.73 11.64 13.09

5.0 MHz 4.16 6.23 8.32 12.47 12.47 16.62 18.70

7.0 MHz 5.82 8.73 11.64 17.45 17.45 23.27 26.18 Modulation QPSK 16QAM 64QAM
Code Rate 1/2 3/4 1/2 3/4 2/3 3/4
10.0 MHz 8.31 12.47 16.62 24.94 24.94 33.25 37.40
Zone A B C D E F
20.0 MHz 16.62 24.94 33.25 49.87 49.87 66.49 74.81
Range (km) 17.1 13.6 7.6 6.1 3.8 3.0

Throughput (Mbps) 5.8 8.7 11.6 17.5 23.3 26.2

Source: Motorola; system metrics refer to Motorola Canopy Solution


Contents

• Spectrum fundamentals





Wireless architectures and networks

Wireless Network Types Wireless Network Architectures

Point-to-Point
• Used for backhaul
purposes with directional
Sensor WPAN WLAN WMAN WRAN antennae
Networks • Speeds up to the Gigabit/s
range

Point-to-Multipoint
• One point serves multiple
points around it, with
Distance omni-directional or
from cell - + multiple sector antennae
• Speeds depend on
Typical Cell technology and user load
Reach ~2m ~10m ~30m ~4km ~40km
Mesh
IEEE 802.16 • Every device can
Standards agnostic 802.15 802.11 802.20 802.22 communicate with any
other device within range
Commercial • “Self-healing”: network
Standards/ RFID Bluetooth WiMAX cdma2000 can still operate even
Names RuBee ZigBee Wi-Fi Flash-OFDM UMTS when a node breaks


Cell-based coverage: the trend to low-powered low-reach networks

Maritime
Mobile HF
Radio
280,000 sqm (~ 300 mi)

1,000,000 100 Watts
1G
10,000 sqm Macrocellular
Systems
2 G Cellular
(~8 mi)
700 sqm Expanded
100,000 Service 10 Watts
Mobile/
(~ 4 mi)
Cell 200 sqm Portable
Radius MU-MK 50 sqm Maximum
Mobile
(ft) Telephone 12 sqm 1 Watt
Power
10,000 Metroliner The 2G
(~ 60 mi) Train The 3G/Wi-Max Output
“Sweet Spot” “Sweet Spot”
Telephone
(~ 15 mi) 0.75 sqm
2.5 G
1,000 Microcells 100 mW
(~ 2 mi)
PCS .01 sqm
Microcells 30 mW
(up to 2 mi) The 4G
WLNAN/LAN
Nanocels
“Sweet Spot”
100
(up to 0.2 mi)
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Source: IEEE Year

Cellular architecture: sectorization of a coverage area for the re-use of the same
frequency

Cell area Air interface
Cell tower A-F Frequencies

B B
B
G C G C
A A
F D B
F D E
B E G C
C A
G C B F D
B E
A G C G C
F D A A
E F D
A F D E
E

• A cellular radio has limited range • Cells are laid out in a honeycomb • Cells can also be “sectorized” to
• The area served by a tower is a “cell” pattern and can be subdivided into increase capacity
• As a user moves out of range, the new cells as traffic increases • Sectorizing ensures sufficient
connection transfers to a different • Adjacent cells use unique frequencies capacity, while overlay cells ensure
tower (a ‘handoff” that is often the to avoid interference requiring the seamless coverage
source of dropped connections) phone to change channels


Generic wireless broadband infrastructure architecture

Subscriber Modules Cellular Infrastructure Connectivity Service Network Interworking

Cell tower, antennae 3rd-Party email,
and base station Network Content & other
Element Mobility AAA Application
Outdoor B Ethernet Manager Manager Server Servers
Antenna Switch
G C
PSTN
A Multi-stack
Routers
F D 3GPP
Indoor E
Antenna
3GPP2
IP Router Core IP Network
IP Router
B Internet
PCMCIA
Card G C
A
3rd-Party F D
User Accounting, DHCP DNS
Embedded E Repository Billing & Server Server
Subscriber
Module Customer
3-5 km typical Care
cell radius

Source: Cisco, Intel, Siemens, Motorola, Accenture analysis.


Four criteria to evaluate a wireless technology

• Total reach of wireless signal (radius) and resulting coverage per cell (coverage limit)
• Depends on frequency/spectral region and modulation capabilities
Coverage km2 • Coverage is key to determining initial system and service delivery cost
• Determines the coverage-driven base station density for initial deployment

• Total capacity (Mbps) able to be served by each cell (capacity limit)
• Depends on spectral efficiency of underlying technology and channelization
Capacity Mbps • Capacity is key efficiency factor in mature markets with high penetration rates
• Determines the capacity-driven base station density

• Total available spectrum (MHz) and quality of spectrum (frequency and licensing regime)
• Depends on regulation: licensed vs. unlicensed, paired vs. unpaired spectrum, spectral region
Spectrum MHz • Determines cost: licensed (expensive, but protection against interference) vs. unlicensed (free,
but risk of interference); paired (expensive) vs. unpaired (less costly); propagation characteristics

• Spectrum, base station, infrastructure and device/subscriber module costs
• Depends on $/MHz/Pop for licensed spectrum and degree of commercialization of technology
System Cost $ • $/MHz/Pop mainly driven by household income, business density and penetration rates
• Degree of commercialization depends on standardization efforts and vendor support


The US is divided into 734 cellular market areas which are governed by the FCC

Popu- % of Area (SqMi) % of Pop/
lation total Total SqMi
Total US 293.7 100% 3,536, 604 100% 83
Urban Areas 196.0 66.7% 73,675 2,1% 2,660
Rural Areas 97.7 33.3% 3,462,929 97,9% 28

Number of cell towers in the US, 2006 & 2010
300,000 260,000
175,000
200,000

100,000

0
2006 2010
734 cellular market areas, composed of: Estimates for number of cell towers per operator in the US,
305 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s) in thousands, 2005
428 Rural Service Areas (RSA’s) 50 44
a market for the Gulf of Mexico 40
Licenses are granted through spectrum auctions 30 25 22 24
20
20
8
10
0
Source: FCC, US Census Bureau, CTIA, Lehman Brothers, Cell Tower Info Blog
Nextel Sprint Cingular Verizon T-Mobile Alltel

Network standard convergence: the trend to non-proprietary all-IP 4G networks

2G 2.5G 2.75 G 3G 4G
(10 kbps) (64-144 kbps) (144-384 kbps) (384k-2 Mbps) (> 2Mbps)

Japan PDC
TD-WCDMA
GSM Association, ETSI* 3GPP* OFDM Based Air
Europe, Interfaces
GSM GPRS
China
CDMA 2000
HSCSD EDGE 3GP Future
3xRTT
US TDMA Evolvement of
3GPP2*
UWCC, T1* 802.11
802.16
802.20
CDMA 2000
US, Japan CDMA
1xRTT 802.21 Seamless
CDG, TIA*
Mobility

SD-WCDMA
China GSM
(TDD)

1998 2000 2002 2005 2006 > 2010
Migration Path *Regulatory bodies

Source: ITU, ATS Network Consortium, Gartner Research 2005, EURESCOM, Accenture analysis

Contents






Wireless broadband’s problem: for similar price points, the average wireless
broadband customer uses 10x the bandwidth compared to voice…

Consumer willingness to pay for wide area mobile services ESTIMATE

Consumers’ willingness to
Cellular Voice Wireless Broadband pay for 1 MB of airtime is
Subscriber price $29.99/Month1 $24.98/Month2 approximately 10x higher for
mobile voice than for for
wireless broadband
Package / Plan 300 Minutes1 1.5 Mbit/s upstream &
For given price points,
256 kbit/s downstream2 wireless broadband
Typical consumption 30 MB/month3 300 MB/month4 operations require an
approximately 10x lower
cost structure than cellular
Implied revenue per $1.00 $0.08 networks to yield the same
MB profitability

[1] T-Mobile Plan “Basic Plus”, excludes activation fee.
[2] Clearwire Plan ClearPremiumTM for the first year, excludes activation fee.
[3] Calculated based on GSM codec of 13.2 kbit/s (bandwidth usage).
[4] Calculated based on estimated daily traffic of 10MB upstream and 20MB downstream.


… and it doesn’t stop there: business is expected to become more difficult

Demand side Supply side

• Low subscriber switching costs • Exploding capex and opex requirements
to support rising tide of subscriber usage
• High sensitivity to service quality
• Extreme price pressure

Source: ArrayComm


What it costs to roll-out a network: 70% of general capital expenditure
components of today’s mobile networks are driven by the number of cell sites
Network Components as Acme ISP, Inc.
% of Capital Expenditure WiMAX Offering Capacity Planning

100% UL DL Subs. UL DL
Backhaul 5% (Kbps) (Kbps) Capacity Capacity
95%
Microwave Links 5%
90% Platinum 512 1,024 10 10*512 10*1,024
Software/ Gold 256 512 30 30*256 30*512 61,44 Mbps
15%
Billing
Silver 128 256 60 30*128 30*256
75%
Total 100 20,480 40,960
Switching 15%

60% Usage can be calculated as the product of:
1. % of active users
2. % avg. air time usage by active users
Site Costs 20%
Oversubscription factor (OSF):
1 / (%usage) = 1 / ( (% active users) * (% avg. air time) )
40%
Airtime for all users: 50%
Percentage of active users: Total data transmitted over long
Residential 20% of users OSF = 5 periods of accumulated peak-
times will roughly be equal to
SME / SOHO 40% of users 12 Mbps ( = 61.44 Mbps / OSF)
Radio 40%
Enterprise 80% of users

• Clearwire is estimated to have approximately 840 subscribers per tower
• Unwired Tower’s in Australia each serve 600-900 customers
Grows proportionally to
Source: Lehman Brothers, Accenture analysis. number of cell sites

Propagation characteristics of spectrum impact roll-out costs

Cost of wireless network deployment based on range and frequency1 ESTIMATE

Benchmark wireless
Cell radius, network cost, US$
km per km2
15 Weighted 30,000
average cost
Rural range (US$)
25,000

10 20,000

15,000

5 2,100 MHz 10,000
700 MHz ~ 3 x higher
Suburban range cost for roll-
5,000 out in 2,100
Urban range
MHz band

0 0
500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000
Frequency, MHz
[1] Propagation calculations based on Okumura-Hata model; base scenario input data:$100,000 per cell site, morphology mix of 25% urban, 50% suburban,
25% rural, 600 kbit/s peak data rate, coverage-limited scenario
Source: ArrayCom, Accenture analysis.

A simple cash flow model for operations and underlying drivers: what are the best
KPIs to measure cost efficiency and where are the biggest levers to obtain it?

Cash flow model Business case variables and assumptions

Market Deployment
• Geographic size • Sectors/cell
• Population density • Spectrum available
• Pops/HH ratio • Spectrum re-use
• Broadband penetration • Antennae per sector
• Number of SMEs in market • Spectrum operating point
Capacity & • PC penetration • Oversubscription factor
Coverage • Notebook share of PCs • Coverage for fixed service
• Mobile phone penetration • Coverage for mobile service
• Morphology mix • Backhaul approach

Range
Customer Behavior Operating Parameters
• Range: The range of the technology dictates the number of • Usage per average subscriber in • Site acquisition/installation cost
base stations required to reach initial coverage objectives, busy hour by service segment • Base station cost/sector
driving the peak negative cash flow point. • Aggregate consumption as function • NOC cost per data subscriber unit
of busy-hour usage of capacity
• Capacity: The capacity of the technology determines how
• Retail ARPU segment • Backbone connectivity per sub
many subscribers an operator can support and therefore how
• Subscriber device price (paid by • Subscriber acquisition cost
much revenue will be received per unit of capital expenditures.
subscriber vs. subsidized) • Subscriber churn
• Coverage: The coverage quality of the system will affect • Subscriber adoption • Spectrum unit cost
marketing costs through its influence on unit subscriber • Modem type mix • Spectrum depreciation period
acquisition expense and churn rates.


Contents






There are four drivers that will determine the future wireless industry structure

Customer demand
•Consumers increasingly demanding “anywhere,
any time” access to voice and data services
Competition •Examples Regulation
•New players besides • High and still rising mobile penetration •Congress and FCC
CellCos and RBOCs • Projected adoption of wireless data and home clearing previously
entering wireless networking licensed spectrum,
market with offerings licensing additional
ranging from wireless spectrum, and
data only to quad-play opening more
bundles unlicensed/nonexclusi
•Examples Wireless increasingly becoming ve spectrum
• Municipal Wireless important part of integrated •Examples
in unlicensed communication services • DTV
spectrum transition/FCC
• Clearwire largest ATC order
owner besides • 700 MHz/AWS
Nextel of 2.5GHz auctions
spectrum Technology evolution • 2.4/5.7 MHz
• CableCos bidding • New network architectures blurring distinction unlicensed
for spectrum in between wireless and wireline services spectrum
AWS auction • Examples
• IMS/SIP – seamless mobility
• IP-enabled 3G/4G networks
• Smart devices


Customers seem to want access to all services anytime, anywhere

U.S. households are poised for convergence of cellular and Home networks grew by 80% in 2005; Wireless is in
wireless broadband two-thirds of all home networks
U.S. 2005, Millions 22%
16%
U.S. households 13%
40.7 with a home 9% 2006
network 2005
32.9

“Online” households All households
Mio. US 19.5
` Analysts predict significant adoption of Wi-Fi enabled
households
phones in the U.S.
Millions of wireless users, embedded base

Broadband Broadband Broadband Non-Wi-Fi 177
households households households enabled phones 193
197 204
with cell with cell
subscription subscription Wi-Fi enabled
phones <1 6 26 50
and Wi-Fi
access point 2006 2007 2008 2009

• Consumers’ familiarity with wireless broadband and cellular is growing
• Wi-Fi functionality to be included in 40% of new phones by 2009
Source: Boingo Wireless, InStat, Forrester, FCC

There is a significant amount of new spectrum available to competitors
Spectrum band classification
370 976
Megahertz
Results AWS Auction #66 Sep ‘06 3.6 GHz band 50
• T-Mobile $4.2 billion
5.7 GHz band 80
• Verizon Wireless $2.8 billion
• SpectrumCo $2.4 billion
• MetroPCS $1.4 billion
• Cingular $1.3 billion
• Cricket $710 million 2.4 GHz band 240
• Denali Spectrum $365 million
• Barat Wireless $127 million
170
• AWS Wireless $116 million Nextel
20 791
• Atlantic Wireless $81 million 700 MHz 60
… ….
AWS
90
1,087 licenses $14 billion CCI 251
700 MHz 5
MSV 28 24 421

BRS/EBS 194
• Price in AWS Auction #66: $0.53
per MHz per POP 185
• Spectrum values have historically SMR
15
Cellular 50
ranged from a low of $0.15 per
MHz per POP (Auction 22 in 1999) 185 185
to a high of $4.74 per MHz per PCS 120
POP for the 10 MHZ of spectrum in
the New York city BTA that was Licensed Licensed Allocate “New” Unlicensed/ Total spectrum Total
sold by NextWave to Verizon spectrum in spectrum not licensed spectrum nonexclusive- potentially spectrum
Wireless use by usable for spectrum coming use spectrum available for available for
wireless mobile slated for available potentially us- non-incumbent wireless
operators services auction able with new wireless operators
Source: FCC, UBS Research, Accenture analysis. technology operators

Technology evolution and convergence blurs the lines between wireline and
wireless services

Internet industry: data-centric From: stove piped services To: service-agnostic delivery

• all-IP fixed networks: processing Service 1 Service 2 Service 3
power at the edge of the network Applicatio Appli- Appli- Appli-
Appli- Appli- Appli- cation cation cation
n
cation cation cation
• Devices designed to provide superior
processing power Subscribe
Subscriber Subscriber Subscriber Subscriber data
rdata
data data data
• Zero marginal cost for service Media Media Media Media functions
provision functions functions functions

• Consumers are making decisions, not Service Service Service
Convergence

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) delivery
delivery delivery delivery
the industry: highly innovative

Wireline Wireline Wireless Wireline Wireline Wireless
access access access access access access
Cellular industry: voice-centric
• Circuit-switched networks; processing
power at the core of the network
• Devices designed to provide mobility
and long battery life
IMS and interim FMC technologies enabling
• > 0 marginal cost for service seamless service delivery across multiple networks
provision
• Industry is making decisions, not the
consumer: R&D trial & error


There are numerous attackers in the market with wireless expertise and different
business models
Business Wireless Spectrum
Attacker Description model operations licenses

Aloha Partners currently own 12MHz of spectrum Residential wireless
covering 60% of the United States, all of the top 10 broadband access
markets and 84% of the population in the top 40 markets.
Aloha Partners have no network operations as of now, but
and Mobile TV
-
plan to roll-out

Clearwire has the second largest position of 2.5 GHz Residential and SME
spectrum in the US wireless broadband
Clearwire offers services in 27 markets in the United access in underserved
States, covering more than 200 municipalities with an or Greenfield markets
estimated 4.8 million people.

Towerstream operates in the license-free 5.8GHz band, SME and enterprise
with licenses in the 24 GHz band for backhaul wireless broadband
Towerstream serves the markets in NYC, LA, Chicago,
Boston, Providen and Newport, Rhode Island and San
access in large metro
areas, VoIP
-
Francisco

Tropos Networks and Mesh Networks are network gear White label network
vendors with focus on unlicensed WiFi mesh networks
WiFi mesh networks are being deployed by municipalities
across the US, usually in collaboration with an ISP, e.g.
provider with turnkey
solution -
EarthLink and Google in San Francisco

Source: Company websites, Yahoo! Finance, SEC filings, Accenture analysis. All figures as of May 17th, 2006.

And then there also is… you!

• Meraki Mini: $49 wireless 802.11b/g router that allows users to • “La Fonera”: $5 wireless 802.11b/g router that allows users of
build a wireless mesh network or extend the range of a the FON community to share their wireless Internet:
municipal network.
• Linus: Share their WiFi hotspot and get free roaming on
• Meraki also has mesh routing software and hosted billing/user Fon network
management tools “operators” need to run a production
• Bills: Share their WiFi hotspot and get 50% of the revenue
network.
generated by aliens but no roaming
• An “operator” can set pricing and also brand its service
• Aliens: Customers that pay for access to the Fon network
($3 for day pass)

The
future??


That’s all, folks!

May I be
excused?
My brain is
full!


Accenture - A Primer in Wireless Broadband

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