SUWANEE, Ga. -- ARRIS (Nasdaq: ARRS) today announced that, in association with VCOM of Canada, it has deployed one of the first DOCSIS® 2.0-based broadband fixed access wireless systems in North America. Using its new wireless enhanced C3 Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) and WM450 modems, this technology package has been deployed at Sterling Cable in San Angelo, Texas to facilitate the addition of several hundred revenue based customers who are being served using the 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz licensed frequency bands.
“The combined ARRIS-VCOM solution makes a lot of sense for us to deploy in our market,” said Sterling Cable President Bill Jones, on announcing the deployment. “Being a point to multi-point operator already, using MMDS frequencies and this 700MHz solution allows us to capture more of the market share.”
DOCSIS® 2.0 based technology uses a fixed modulation scheme on a sector basis, to offer the largest amount of data bandwidth over the greatest distance possible. This is essential in areas that are underserved with lower population densities where closely spaced cells of fixed terrestrial infrastructure are difficult to economically justify. As an example, in the newly licensed 700 MHz bands, where line of sight issues are minimized and cell coverage radius ranges of 20+ miles are possible, wireless broadband services are under serious consideration. As these systems are based on high volume DOCSIS® based equipment, customer premise costs are kept in the sub $300 range versus some comparable systems with proprietary solutions which cost several hundreds of dollars more. Even adding VoIP to the system operation only adds slight additional costs, using ARRIS’ latest high volume E-MTAs such as the TTM402 product line.
This new product line of wireless equipment based on ARRIS’ recently certified DOCSIS® 2.0 technology, is currently being shipped and installed by wireless operators worldwide using multiple frequency bands.
Arris Group Inc.