Subject: [NEXTEL-1] AirBand Thrives Where Others Faltered

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 01:51:29 -0500

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=print_page&articleID=CA259456&doc_id=

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 

<<< Back | Print

www.wirelessweek.com

AirBand Thrives Where Others Faltered

By Sue Marek
November 18, 2002

Wireless Week
© 2002, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A conservative business strategy, patient investors and a customer service-oriented focus are a just a few of the elements credited with helping fixed wireless provider AirBand Communications achieve profitability in its Dallas market in just 19 months. In an arena where few broadband players, particularly fixed wireless providers, have been able to survive, Airband's early success is significant.

Although the company launched in January 2000, before the economic downturn, CEO Andrew Lombard says AirBand always had a much more conservative growth model than many of its fixed wireless counterparts. "We went with a capital-efficient model, rolling out markets very strategically," Lombard says. "And we were rewarded by having a company that can show profitability."

Using equipment from Axxcelera Broadband Wireless, Lombard says AirBand is able to outfit a building with equipment in a few hours and for less than $4,000. In addition, AirBand can be successful even if it only secures one customer or tenant per building. "I don't have to deploy assets prior to getting a customer. Even if we get just one customer per building, it can still be successful for us," Lombard says.

The company's original plan was to launch service in 10 markets but it quickly reduced that number when it realized the capital markets were more interested in profitability than footprint. "We put the brakes on our growth plan," Lombard says. Today, AirBand offers service in Dallas, Phoenix, Fort Worth and Houston and is looking at expanding into a few other markets; however, Lombard emphasizes the company won't rush into anything. Like Dallas, the Phoenix market should be profitable by year-end, with Houston becoming profitable by mid-2003.

A key factor in AirBand's profitability, according to Lombard, is the company uses unlicensed spectrum in the 5.8 GHz band. Unlike fixed wireless companies that are providing service in the licensed bands such as MMDS or LMDS, AirBand didn't have to pay a huge fee for spectrum licenses. "I didn't need to pay $1 billion to get entry into this market," Lombard says.

Another element of Airband's success is it is able to quickly provision its service. While ILECs and other broadband companies take a month to six weeks to provision their service, AirBand can deliver it in less than three days. "We can have a building lit in an average of less than three days between contract and install," Lombard says.

In addition, the company employs what Lombard refers to as the "Nordstrom Department Store philosophy," meaning that its customer service representatives try to keep AirBand's customers extremely happy with the service. "We are delighting our customers with customer service and building brand recognition," he says.

Although the company has always targeted businesses with its broadband service, Lombard says it is testing Motorola's Canopy solution and considering a residential play, but only if the business model makes sense. "We're keeping our options open," he says. "We're in an experimental trial on the residential side, but we're not going to go to that model unless we have the potential to win big with it."

<<< Back | Print