Sprint Canada looks to Inukshuk joint venture for cheaper access technology

Sprint Canada Inc. is testing broadband wireless local loop technology from the Inukshuk Internet Inc., Allstream Inc. and NR Communications joint venture to determine whether the emerging wireless service can be a cost-effective alternative to traditional hard-wired last mile access. The company isn’t talking about potential cost savings at this point except to say the costing analysis is underway. Duncan McEwan, president and COO of the Call-Net Enterprises Inc. subsidiary, explains that the purpose of the trial is two-fold. In addition to the costing issues, the test is technical in nature in that the company needs to figure out how robust the system is for both Internet access and for voice services. "Fundamentally, this is going to come down to whether or not this is a sufficiently low-cost alternative to conventional access technologies. It’s going to be based on that," McEwan tells Report on Wireless. "The technical performance is something we have to test out. I don’t know if we’ll see any surprises there, but the real question is going to come around the economics of the proposal once we look at it versus existing access technologies." Sprint Canada has deployed a single cell site located close to the company’s head offices to test the service. Additionally, a number of employees will put the service through its rigors, explains McEwan.The impact of this wireless local loop technology on the competitive telecommunications landscape won’t be known until a costing analysis is completed, says McEwan, adding that he believes the technology to be both reliable and deployable. "We wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t interested, but we’ve got to work out the economics of it," he said. Allstream’s Ron McKenzie, senior VP of strategy and corporate development, agrees with McEwan that technical trials and costing need to be done first before assessing the technology’s potential impact on the market. "I would evaluate this (technology) in two phases. First of all, prove out the technology to make sure it’s a viable telco grade. That’s the key piece…and then combine that with high-speed (Internet). Then, of course, it has to be commercially acceptable and competitive in the marketplace." There are indicators, however, pointing to substantially lower deployment costs for the multi-point communications service (MCS) technology. The simple plug’n’play functionality of the integrated modem and antenna (box) eliminates the need for a truck roll to customer locations. The customer premise equipment retails for approximately $325. Introductory offers are allowing customers to amortize the cost of the box over a two-year period. What is unclear at this point is the cost of network deployment and what the total cost per subscriber is for rolling out the MCS network across Canada. While Sprint Canada is reserving judgment on the wireless service, Allstream has committed to the technology both on a wholesale and retail basis. Allstream is already offering services to business customers in Richmond BC and Cumberland ON and plans to introduce a Voice over IP service this year. This hasn’t been lost of McEwan. "That by itself is a compelling argument (for considering the technology)," he says of the Allstream service. Allstream is bullish on the potential of NextNet Wireless’ Expedience equipment to deliver a high-quality VoIP service. In an interview with Report on Wireless affiliate publication Network Letter earlier this year, Mike Kologinski, Allstream’s executive VP of marketing, said the hardware’s next version will allow the creation of parallel bandwidth for the provision of voice services. (For more on the Kologinski interview, refer to the March 18/04 issue of Network Letter.) "It won’t be the type of Voice over IP offering that a couple of providers in the market (are providing) where you run voice over the Internet connection, it will create parallel bandwidth for the voice connection. Customers who have concerns about, perhaps, where their (calls) should be going over the Internet, it will be Voice over IP, but it will be separate channels from the Internet connection. So there’s a unique value proposition that will come with that service. "It will allow us to control the quality of service. It will effectively be a virtual wireline circuit … that will give us a good capability." There has been no end date attached to the trial and it will go on throughout the summer, says McEwan. "When our teams come back and say ‘we’ve done our due diligence’ that’s when we’ll stop it and evaluate whether we’re going to go further," he tells RoW.

Sprint Canada looks to Inukshuk joint venture for cheaper access technology

News | June 1, 2004

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