Regional Carrier To Deploy FLASH-OFDM Wireless Broadband

Wireless broadband vendor Flarion Technologies said Tuesday that regional wireless operator Cellular One said Tuesday is launching a wireless broadband network in Amarillo, Texas using FLASH-OFDM technology.

According to Flarion, which developed FLASH-OFDM, the network has been in testing and will start accepting paying customers later this month. Initially, the network will cover about 100 square miles and will be expanded at a later date, Flarion said in a statement.

While WiMAX wireless broadband has received the lion's share of attention, FLASH-OFDM has had a number of wins. It is being tested for possible nationwide deployment by Nextel and also is being tested by, among other operators, T-Mobile in Europe and Telstra in Australia. Unlike WiMAX, FLASH-OFDM, which is based on the still-unratified 802.20 standard, offers mobility.

The Amarillo network will offer downstream speeds of about 1 Mbps and upstream speeds of between 300 Kbps and 500 Kbps, according to Flarion.