WiMAX Operator Nth Air Finds It's Niche Serving Business Customers

Can a small start-up carrier change the telecom world? US operators are leveraging 3.65Ghz WiMAX solutions to offer broadband service at lower costs and better customer service. Interview with Craig Niemeyer, CEO & President of Nth Air.

Craig Niemeyer is the quintessential salesman.  After 13 years in the Marine Corp and several sales positions at a number of wireless telcos, Niemeyer formed Nth Air Corp.  in 2005 to "sell customers what they need" - something Niemeyer would buy himself.  That would be broadband wireless infrastructure services, with a specific focus on WiMAX technology.  Today, the company offers a mix of solutions, including microwave radio, leased fiber, and fixed WiMAX.  Niemeyer sees WiMAX accounting for 85% of his company's sales going forward.

As Nth Air's CEO & President, Niemeyer is responsible for establishing the strategic direction for the company while managing daily operations and technology initiatives.  He believes that broadband wireless will "level the playing field" for small and medium sized business customers, which have been mostly neglected by the ILECs.  According to Niemeyer, fixed WiMAX offers better coverage without repeaters than do proprietary broadband wireless technologies or mesh Wi-Fi.  3.65GHz "lightly licensed" WiMAX is attractive because of the low license fee (a few hundred dollars for 10 years) vs.  the many thousand dollars to acquire 2.5GHz spectrum.

Currently, Nth Air sells and services two types of digital private line replacement services:

- T1+ replacement via Fixed WiMAX, at an average speed of 3 M bit/sec
- T3+ replacement via Microwave radio links at an average speed of 100 M bit/sec

Nth Air's WiMAX Service is available in several U.S.  cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and Denver.  Nth Air provides integrated, end-to-end wireless broadband solutions from business class connectivity to transport access, disaster recovery, broadband properties solutions, professional services, and managed services.  Nth Air provides VoIP and security services as an "overlay" on their broadband wireless network.  More information at nthair.com.

The company also leases part of their network on a wholesale basis (to other carriers or utilities) and supports a range of connectivity options for Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), school districts, and government agencies.  Barracuda Networks, Park Merced, SF (MDU), Centrix Marine, and McKesson are a few of Nth Air's satisfied customers.  (There are other customers who do not want their names divulged).

As for equipment, Nth Air utilizes Airspan's 3.65GHz Fixed WiMAX gear, purchased under an OEM agreement from Fujitsu for its T1+ replacement service.  Equipment from other WiMAX vendors is also being evaluated.  There are several suppliers of microwave radio equipment, including Loea, Bridgewave, and Dragonwave, for the higher speed T3+ replacement offering. 

Niemeyer clearly states "I'm not going to sell a service to a customer who doesn't need it." On occasion, he has advised potential customers not to buy from Nth Air, when there was a more cost effective solution available elsewhere.  But he won't work for free either.  Niemeyer's rule of thumb is to require a ROI payback of < 8 months, before he will begin a network build-out.  Nth Air's average monthly recurring charge per customer (sometimes referred to as ARPU) is $4,500 - not bad at all for a start up carrier serving small to medium size business customers.

Nth Air's WiMAX evangelist is William Butte.  With the official title of Executive Vice President of WiMAX, Will has extensive experience in marketing, strategy and successful network deployments.  He worked in Asia the last five years, where he developed business plans and models for broadband wireless networks - all of which were successfully deployed.  Will seems to have a "fire in the belly" to get WiMAX deployed globally and is leading Nth Air into global alliances - initially in the U.S., Asia and Europe (more later in this article).

Nth Air's Calling Card

- Solid track record of delivering 3.65GHz fixed WiMAX based services to a variety of customers.  WiMAX at other frequencies is planned for fixed and nomadic broadband wireless access.
- Provides a viable alternative to ILECs for digital private line replacement, campus networks, MDU aggregation, backhaul from Wi-Fi hot spots, wholesale leasing, and overlay services.
- Very responsive to customer requests for quick installation, especially compared to ILEC provisioning of wired private lines. 
- Collaborating with other carriers to expand WiMAX deployments to underserved/rural areas in the U.S.  as well as to Asia and Europe.  For example, Nth Air is working with Green Packet (owner of Packet One in Malaysia) to deploy its communications manager software.

Whats next for WiMAX?

Nth Air sees several current directions and future trends for fixed/nomadic WiMAX:

- Campus networks, particularly for Wi-Fi backhaul are growing now and will continue to do so.  The Park Merced MDU complex in San Francisco is such an endeavor. 
- Cellular backhaul, particularly for CDMA, is a good fit for Fixed WiMAX if there is sufficient capacity available on the P2P or P2MP WiMAX links between cell towers.
- Global co-operation between WiMAX network operators/service providers will demonstrate the wireless industry is meeting the broadband connectivity needs of the current large number of underserved users.

Philosophy turned into Reality

The enthusiasm, missionary zeal and customer caring exhibited by these two executives is palpable.  They believe that a lack of wireless broadband competition in the U.S.  gave the ILECs no incentive or motivation to innovate.  Hence, business customers were not offered a wireless alternative to digital private lines or broadband Internet access.  To realize this objective, the company has joined a consortium that will apply for U.S.  broadband stimulus money (grants or loans) from NTIA and RUS.  The goal is to get fixed and nomadic wireless broadband services quickly deployed to underserved and rural areas. 

Conclusion

The U.S.  needs more privately funded companies like Nth Air, in order to stimulate innovation and competitiveness.  They are filling a need that is not now met by the ILECs, providing much more cost-effective connectivity options than with wire-line networks.  It's companies like this that could light a fire under the ILECs to be more responsive and competitive to their business customers. 

The company has a string of announcements planned in April.  We will check back with them at the end of the month to get you the inside story.




 

Sunday, April 05, 2009 in Deployments  | Permalink |  Comments (11)