Flarion Touts Double Deal

The Flarion Technologies bandwagon keeps on rolling, with the alternative infrastructure startup announcing deployments in Croatia and Malaysia.

Flarion will work with systems integrator Arbital Communications Sdn. Bhd. to deploy its Flash-OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) kit at Croatian service provider Retel d.o.o. (see Flarion Wins in Croatia). The network will be launched in Zagreb, the capital city of the Republic of Croatia in Eastern Europe. Zagreb has a population of approximately 800,000 and covers 650 square kilometers.

Unstrung believes the deal to be worth around $15 million in the first year, with a potential total value of $40 million. The network is targeting both enterprise and residential users. No detail was immediately available on base station deployments, spectrum frequency, or the number of targeted users.

In addition, Flarion has scored its first publicly announced deal in Asia/Pacific, in partnership with Arbital. "We are proud to be one of the first in the world to deploy a Flash-OFDM commercial network for mobile broadband services for IP Mobility Sdn Bhd, formerly known as Ikram Saksama Sdn Bhd, who will be launching services in Malaysia within the next six to nine months," said Saw Leng Kooi, executive director of Arbital, in a prepared statement.

The Malaysian network will target “rural areas as a last mile solution.” Flarion was unable to provide specific details on this planned deployment.

The double whammy deal caps a successful two weeks for Flarion. Last week the vendor announced a small deal at Virginian service provider Citizens, and has also scored its first win in the 450MHz spectrum band, at Finnish carrier Digita Oy (see Yes, Virginia, There Is a Flarion and Flarion Wins in Finland ).

This bevy of wins follows previously announced deals at Aloha Partners and Cellular One of Amarillo, a public safety network project in Washington D.C., and a high-profile deployment at Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTL). (See Flarion Greets Aloha, Flarion Unwires Amarillo, Flarion & Friends Get Gov't Gig and Nextel Flashes With Flarion.)

Coincidentally, the Nextel deployment -- reported to be a big hit with users -- was last week shut down to the public (see Nextel to End Flarion Trial). [Ed note: Hmmm... nice timing on the contract announcements then guys.]

— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung