Challenges: Marketing the Broadband Wireless Industry

Challenges: Marketing
the Broadband Wireless Industry

Broadband Wireless Business
By Robert Hoskins
March 2001

After returning from the recent Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) Technical Symposium in San Jose, one thing was clear, the broadband wireless industry is growing by leaps and bounds.

This year’s attendance was five times larger than last year’s show. And, by the time you read this, I expect to report similar results for the Broadband Wireless World Forum, sponsored by Shorecliff Communications, the publisher of BWB.

When thinking about the attendance of these two tradeshows, however, the question quickly comes to mind, “If our industry is growing this quickly, why are so many people outside our industry not aware that a third choice exists for high-speed last mile connectivity?”

Reading the many different trade publications and business journals that I receive every week, I wonder why we don’t see more articles on the benefits of deploying broadband wireless networks outside of vertical wireless/broadband trade publications.

Sure, we saw a fair amount of press activity when Sprint and WorldCom bought up the majority of MMDS licenses last summer, but not much has been published since. I’m not sure why. Sprint continues to rollout markets and WorldCom is close to doing the same. My guess is that many press members haven’t really looked at more than the MMDS portion of wireless spectrum, except for maybe LMDS.

This baffles me because there is so much going on in other bands, both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Did you know there are more than 400 wireless ISPs in the United States alone?

Why is it that there is so much ink dedicated to other types of broadband such as DSL and cable modem wired solutions and not much on the rapid developments we are seeing in the broadband wireless industry? What are the marketing messages that we need to create in order for our industry to get the credit and exposure we deserve?

Generating Interesting Story Angles

As any new and growing business, the broadband wireless industry is faced with a number of challenges. The most important challenge for us, and the focus of this article, is how to successfully market the Broadband Wireless Industry.

The first step of this process is to become better and more frequent communicators. There are plenty of vertical trade publications and analyst firms that cover our industry. What we need to do is to generate more interesting story lines for these media outlets. Next, we need to become better communicators with those outside our industry such as the business press, the investment community and the public in general, since they will benefit the most from broadband wireless connections.

The public and the computer networking industry have watched the rise and fall of copper promises and they are desperately looking for another way to obtain high-speed data connections. Developing stories and white papers to show the benefits of broadband wireless to these parties is a must. Materials must be informative and explain in plain English the economics and flexibility of using wireless connections to solve the last mile bottleneck. Though this process is nothing new to any marketing person, learning the physics of planning, developing and deploying a wireless network is very complicated. I would like to encourage every engineer that reads this article to take some time and sit down with your marketing and public relations teams to show them why wireless is more flexible and has so much more potential than a copper connection. The more information that we have to pass around, the more others will have a chance research our technology and learn why wireless is a better solution. Not just wireless in general, but fixed wireless that delivers point-to-point and point-to-multipoint broadband connections.

What are some of the key messages we need to develop for this industry? Nothing makes a better story than an article that shows an interested reader how to solve a real business problem. For example, a manager of a small ISP would be very interested in reading an article on how a new piece of technology might eliminate two of the most problematic and costly variables within his operations, cost-effective installations and reaching customers with poor line-of-sight. Sure there are numerous technology solutions out there that can theoretically solve these problems, but wouldn’t it be nice to read some case studies that show how an operator might use an MMDS supercell combined with point-to-point backhaul and 2.4 GHz microcells to fill in null zone pockets?

“A lot of people talk in general terms about the ultimate goal of being able to make it possible for customers to go down to the local computer super store or electronics outlet and buy a modem/transverter that they can use to install service without a truck roll,” said Paul Struhsaker, CTO at Raze Technologies.

Wouldn’t it be great to see an article on what is needed to make this a reality? What kind of baseline-standards do we need for a consistent national or global retail presence?

Standards are always a point of contention, but everyone knows we need at least some basic standards. As Ulrich Altvater, president and CEO of WIMAN Systems points out, “Right now we have many people who recently entered this marketplace from the point-to-point microwave industry, the local area networking industry, and the router industry. Some service providers are small ISPs without the expertise to thoroughly evaluate all the potential wireless technologies that are being touted. Others are very large Telcos that tend to be more reserved and have very long and detailed analysis cycles.”

The whole industry is still in its infancy and it isn’t quite clear who has the best solution that actually works like their marketing literature promises. Why not generate some standards articles about what technical specifications are being examined and what problems they may or may not solve?

Education programs are something we need very badly. Where can an ISP go to get to get a good education on how to integrate wireless connections into an Internet Protocol (IP) network? Sure there are lots of expensive conferences where you can spend several days listening to presentations and panel discussions, but where can you attend a good “hands-on” training program on building broadband wireless networks that is vendor agnostic?

Once an ISP gets a good education, understands the physics of wireless antennas and knows how to build a system that is spectrally efficient, where will they be able to get the money to pay for all the new wireless networking gear they’ll need? One reason DSL got a head start in the broadband access business was because IP routers and other equipment were already installed in all POPs and Telco hotels. Since the wireless business is new to the IP world, headends will most likely have to expand their facilities to include IP networking gear. Many ISPs often do not have the funds to finance this type of infrastructure. One of the most important challenges equipment manufacturers and the finance community now face is how to find creative ways to help ISPs finance these wireless infrastructure costs. Anyone out there planning this type of initiative?

Now we’ll assume that an ISP has researched the industry, obtained a good wireless education and secured the money to finance a new wireless system. Where can they turn to for some good, real world advice. Wouldn’t it be very helpful for everyone in this industry to create a repository of installation trials and tribulation information? Regardless of what a text book or marketing literature might say, there will be many times when an installer could use some real world information on how to get a signal through a problematic tree line, bend it around a tall building or handle unknown sources of interference.

Last but not least, where can an ISP find some information on providing a standard service level agreement for their new wireless connections? This might be hard to do because not many DSL or cable modem providers offer guarantees of service performance. However, due to the flexibility and robustness of wireless systems, executives like Andrew Lombard, president and CEO of Dallas-based airBand Communications, say that their company has been able to attract a good customer base by offering service level guarantees.

Other last minute challenges that an ISP might run into are the “communist wannabes” that manage neighborhood Home Owners Associations. While it is not clear to me why or how a antenna that is smaller that a satellite dish can be so obtrusive, even with the passage of federal legislation to the contrary, these associations can still make installations a painfully slow process. Wouldn’t it be great to read a case study on how one ISP successfully bypassed these organizations? Or maybe find an attorney that has some litigation experience in this area?

Advantages of Broadband Wireless over DSL/Cable Modems

When developing messages for the broadband wireless industry, here are some points that you might want to include or reinforce when pitching your story to the press.

“High data rate, fixed wireless solutions are not new,” said Dr. John Sanford, vice-president of wireless products for REMEC Magnum. “Many companies have been in the point-to-point microwave business for many years. What is new is the demand from residential and small business customers for high-speed Internet access.”

While wireless modem and CPE antennas are new pieces of the puzzle, there are a lot of RF engineers who have extensive knowledge and experience in this area. We already have solutions that work really well and it is only a matter of time before new equipment shows up that is very efficient and cost-effective for delivering broadband wireless connections.

“And unlike the wired copper networks buried under the streets that need to be reconditioned, the cellular/PCS industry has spent the last 20 years developing an infrastructure and acquiring antenna sites that will provide an existing pathway for new forms of wireless networks,” said Evan Jones, vice-president of engineering for AirPrime. “These pathways will be much easier to navigate than the red tape, politics and reseller agreements that the RBOCs offer to CLECs trying to build a business reselling copper.”

Telcos put up resistance to DSL because it doesn’t work with their business model, said Michel Erbschmoe, vice president of research for McGraw Hill Publications.

“Around 60% of resistance can be attributed to expensive equipment investment, and the remaining 40% is associated with DSL eating into their lucrative T1 business,” he said. “As a result, Regional Bell Operating Companies have been pretty pitiful in terms of their ability to come to market with DSL. The good news for wireless broadband providers is that, for the most part, they don’t have to deal with RBOCs and, as a result, the industry will be more open to competition.”

Add that to the surprise that many DSL customers get after signing contracts then realizing that they are too far away from a central office to get good service and that 3,000 feet really does make a difference. DSL providers’ inability to fulfill their contracts is not because of poor execution, but because of technical limitations of copper-based infrastructure. The advantage of wireless connection is that there is no fundamental limit to the amount of data that can be sent over wireless links. As of today, wireless systems such as MMDS already provide more flexible data throughput than either DSL or cable modems. We expect that gap to grow as more and more sophisticated wireless modem technology becomes available.

ISPs that offer wireless broadband connections usually can offer better customer service than their lethargic wired counterparts. Provisioning circuits for carriers has become a long and laborious process that can take up to 3-6 months, or longer. Most wireless ISPs can provision a circuit in a matter days, which is important in today’s market.

Another advantage is coverage. Wireless frequencies under 10 GHz can travel very long distances and do not experience the same distance limitations as DSL. For example, an MMDS supercell that operates at 2.5 GHz has a circle of coverage with a radius of 35 miles. If you do the math this equates to roughly 3,850 square miles of coverage. So from the first day that a base station begins beaming a data signal, an ISP can begin selling modems to an entire metroplex. And since the network is wireless, operators do not have to incur the cost of wiring every location with the hope of signing up enough customers to make the service profitable. How long would it take for a cable company or DSL provider to offer ubiquitous service to the same amount of land mass?

Finding the Right Marketing Channels

Now that we have discussed some possible story angles and positive broadband wireless message points, what is the best way to get these stories into the press and out into the industry? What tradeshows should you attend? At what panel discussions should your executives present? What industry associations should your company join? What publications are the right targets for your stories? Where can you find a list of companies that provide wireless hardware, systems integration or marketing services? Where can you post your white papers and case studies for others to read and benefit?

All the executives that I spoke with agreed that the Broadband Wireless Industry needs a place to promote itself.

“Our industry needs a place that provides good information and links to the latest market trends and projections,” said Douglas Hill, senior vice-president for Malibu Networks. “We need a site that people outside our industry can turn to learn more about broadband wireless solutions and how much real potential this industry holds for the future of high-speed Internet connections for residential and small, medium and large business customers; a site where small companies without the proper funds or marketing personnel can post information and become known players in the industry; and where Wall Street can easily track the progress of the industry.”

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