November 10 1998 presentation of:

LMDS Wireless Technologies: The Next Broadband Contender

Moderator

Matthew R. Bedosky, Director Engineering, RCC Consultants, Inc.

Panelists

James Wells, District Director, Dallas Region, Federal Communications Commission
Tom McCabe, Vice President, Bosch Telecom, Inc.
Doug Morgan, Vice President, WinStar Communications
Mark J Emery, WNP Communications, Inc.

Panel and Company Profile

Local Multipoint Distribution Service or "LMDS" is a new wireless market within the telecommunications industry. LMDS is targeted to be a terrestrial, cellular, wireless communication service primarily intended to provide multiple digital services. Planned services include Internet access, high-speed data services, telephony, regular TV programming, interactive video, or telecommuting. Some forecasts predict 700,000 households could be using LMDS-based digital services by the year 2000. The Federal Communication Commission auctioned some 986 licenses in March 1998. This new wireless service operates in the "millimeter wave" band where, not too long ago, conventional technology could not support the operational conditions at the then experimental frequencies.

LMDS may prove to be a wireless high capacity pipeline. The sheer bandwidth of the LMDS allocation -- a total of 1300 MHz (more than 40 times the size of the PCS band) has inspired visions of high-capacity "superwireless" systems delivering extravagant menus of integrated voice, data, and video services. However, the intrinsic technical constraints and associated costs of using millimeter-wave frequencies raise doubts about when and where these systems will be deployed. Digital two-way LMDS can offer a broad range of services over a fairly large area, at moderate cost, with short deployment schedules. New market entrants, telephone and cable companies comprise many of the auction winners to pursue the short-term gains offered by LMDS technology.

Bosch Telecom
Bosch Telecom, Inc., a member of Robert Bosch GmbH, located in Stuttgart, Germany, is a leader in providing turnkey LMDS Integration and Products. It provides a variety of telecommunications system solutions including the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of products for broadband network applications in the US and NAFTA markets. Bosch Telecom, Inc. addresses the worldwide market for LMDS with its SpectraPoint(tm) product line, which was developed to meet the communications challenges of today's world by providing simpler, more effective telecommunications for the growing demand for more multi-service bandwidth.

WinStar Communications
WinStar is a leading communications company currently providing local, long distance and Internet and data services employing 38 GHz and LMDS radio spectrum in thirty U.S. markets. WinStar's addition of 15 newly acquired LMDS licenses makes them a significant force in the domestic Wireless Local Loop industry.

WNP Communications, Inc.
WNP Communications, Inc., a new competitive entrant in broadband communications, was named by the Federal Communications Commission as the winning bidder for 40 wireless licenses that, when granted, will make WNP the largest corporate holder of wireless spectrum in the world. WNP expects to serve the data, voice and video needs of customers with a combination of broadband wireless technology, state-of- -the-art packet switching and high-speed fiber optic links.