Covad Plots 'Pre-WiMax' Service

July 11, 2005

DSL provider Covad Communications Inc. isn't waiting for official Wimax products to launch a broadband wireless service offering -- probably in the first quarter of 2006 -- that promises better than copper performance for its high-end customers.

If it sticks to that schedule, Covad will be one of the first established players to launch a fixed WiMax-like service. Sprint Corp. recently said that it plans to launch WiMax services in 2007. AT&T Corp. is plotting a large trial of the technology in the fourth quarter of this year.

Covad has been actively testing so-called "pre-WiMax" OFDM products since the fall of 2004. The firm has been running a technical trial using four 5.8GHz base stations in San Jose and Oakland, Calif. Ron Marquardt, director of product development for the alternative access services group at Covad, says that firm has "close to 20 users" on the network right now.

"We're looking at the first quarter of next year" for a commercial launch, says Marquardt. He wouldn't go into details about where the firm plans to roll out services or what equipment vendor -- or vendors -- it plans to use.

But Marquardt does say that Covad won't wait for equipment that has the official seal of approval from the WiMax Forum to start offering its service. The first round of WiMax interoperability tests is due to start this month, and WiMax-branded product is expected on the market late in 2005 or early in 2006 -- right around when Covad actually hopes to launch its offering.