NextNet Trials NLOS in NC

RALEIGH, N.C. and MINNEAPOLIS -- America Connect, an N.C.-based company working to bring high speed wide-area wireless Internet connectivity to communities in the Southeast, today announced it will work with NextNet Wireless, a leading provider of non line-of-sight (NLOS) plug-and-play broadband wireless access systems, on an upcoming NLOS trial.

The trial, conducted over 2.3 GHz WCS licensed frequencies, will focus on the overall economics of delivering high-speed wireless services to un-served and underserved markets in the Southeastern United States. Funding for the trial is provided in part by the Rural Internet Access Authority of North Carolina. America Connect’s commercial relationships with U.S. tower companies provide them with the ability to establish points of presence (POPs) at over 37,000 tower locations in the United States.

“We have been examining the rural broadband wireless market for the past three years, with the goal of leveraging our tower relationships to deliver broadband wireless services across the Southeastern United States,” said Joseph Forbes, Jr., chief executive officer of America Connect. “We are encouraged by NextNet’s two-year track record of success, and we are extremely optimistic that broadband wireless will create new and better opportunities for education, medicine, business and government in tier 2-4 communities.”

“NextNet is pleased to work with the America Connect team,” said Guy Kelnhofer, president and chief executive officer of NextNet Wireless. “It’s exciting to be able to bring advanced broadband technology to new markets and to watch those markets respond to having the latest communications technologies at their fingertips. We are confident that our successful global deployments, including domestic systems in Iowa, Minnesota, and Arizona, will energize America Connect’s vision of providing broadband services and applications to a wide geographic area of the United States.”

NextNet’s Expedience™ NLOS broadband wireless system is an IP-based network that supports delivery of all IP compatible broadband applications. These applications include the delivery of both voice and data services such as IP telephony and video streaming and conferencing. Expedience OFDM system products are available to address the needs of residential, SOHO, SME and MDU markets. The Expedience system is currently deployed in cities throughout Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The flexible OFDM-based platform delivers consistent broadband speeds across NLOS cell radiuses of up to 30 km, using indoor, plug-and-play (self-installable) subscriber units, as well as convenient outdoor (bracket-mount) NLOS subscriber units. The Expedience base station weighs just 16 kg and mounts easily to a pole, tower, building rooftop or standard indoor rack.

NextNet Wireless Inc.