Extending high-speed connectivity to rural communities

Harris Stratex, a backhaul specialist and WiMAX RAN supplier, believes it will be a main beneficiary of President Obama’s $7.2bn broadband stimulus package. Aimed at extending high-speed connectivity to rural communities in the US, the $7.2bn fund has a ‘Buy America’ provision attached to it, as has President Obama’s entire fiscal stimulus package across different industry sectors, which is worth around $800bn in total.

US-headquartered Harris Statex therefore believes it has an edge over the likes of NEC, Ericsson, NSN, Alvarion, Huawei and ZTE to be the broadband supplier of choice for rural America. “We’re very well placed,” says Harald Braun, president and CEO of Harris Stratex. “I’m not saying it’s a 100 per cent addressable market for us, but rural broadband is almost a perfect fit for what we offer: microwave in the backhaul over long distances, and WiMAX in the last mile.”

Braun told telecoms.com that the company’s backhaul solution has already been certified for approval by the Rural Utility Services (RUS) telecommunications programme. This is a necessary pre-condition for any kit deployed by operators using financial grants from the $7.2bn broadband fund. “We’re in the process of having our WiMAX equipment certified by the RUS,” adds Braun. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.”

Money has yet to trickle down from the $7.2bn fund through to the smaller and independent telephone companies, which would enable them to deploy broadband infrastructure services in rural and economically challenged US communities. Harris Stratex is, however, helping operators compile their applications for financial aid before the deadline for submission, which is September 2009.

Harris Stratex first moved into WiMAX through an OEM agreement with Telsima, which was announced in September 2008. Telsima’s WiMAX portfolio includes 802.16e and 802.16d base stations, ASN gateways, as well as fixed and mobile subscriber units. Telsima’s customers include Indian heavyweights BSNL, Tata Communications and Reliance, as well as Neotel, a SNO (second network operator) licence holder in South Africa. In March 2009, Harris Stratex paid $12m in cash to acquire Telsima-with payments spread over 12 months-in what was seen by many industry observers at the time as a bargain deal.

“We haven’t yet announced any new customers by virtue of now offering and an end-to-end solution, but these will come shortly,” says Braun. “We also knew it would take about a year to establish customer relationships before we started to get revenue [following the Telsima acquisition].”

“The demand for rich media services is growing at an explosive rate, creating the need for faster and more flexible wireless networking solutions,” Harris Stratex CEO Harald Braun said in a written statement.

The two companies have been working in formal partnership since September 2008, combining Harris’ backhaul expertise with Telsima’s WiMAX access kit. 

Although Telsima is a relatively small WiMAX player, it is a supplier to one of the biggest WiMAX rollouts in the world in the shape of India’s Tata Communications, which has ambitious plans to rollout fixed WiMAX services across India in the 3.3GHz frequency band.

Telsima also secured significant WiMAX deals last year with South Africa’s Neotel and Telecom Slovenia, and has offices in California, India (Bangalore, Gurgaon and Mumbai) and Slovenia. The WiMAX supplier is also reportedly to be on the shortlist of India’s BSNL for mobile WiMAX rollout in the 2.5GHz frequency band.

“Harris Stratex seems to believe that WiMAX has good prospects in developing countries,” says Adlane Fellah, CEO of research firm Maravedis. adding that Harris had originally developed its own BWA product line only to abandon later.