Finally recovering from its failed merger with Sprint Corp., Worldcom Inc., is looking to the future
with Monday’s spectrum license application for fixed broadband wireless
services.
The first round of filing sent to the Federal
Communications Commission is necessary for Worldcom
to offer fixed wireless services in the 160 markets it caters. The license
will be granted if no petitions to deny are sent to the FCC within 60 days.
The Worldcom spectrum application comes after its June
announcement to call off merger talks with Sprint , which
was headed for rejection by the Department
of Justice any ways. Earlier merger attempts with the European Union
were rebuffed.
A merger between the two companies would have given the new company control
over 53 percent of the nation’s network, five times as much as the
second-largest provider. Worldcom’s UUNet
currently owns 37 percent of the nation’s backbone,
Sprint, with one of the largest wireless networks in the U.S., would have
provided the wireless data infrastructure Worldcom needed to expand its
wireless offerings. The failed merger leaves the provider scrambling to
assemble a fixed broadband wireless plan.
Worldcom is marketing its “generation d” initiative of fixed broadband
wireless services in Boston, Providence, R.I., Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Texas,
Jackson, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., Buffalo, N.Y. and Norfolk, Va. It expects to commercially launch the service in the fourth quarter.
John Stupka, Worldcom wireless solutions president, said the company is
working hard to guarantee license acceptance.
“Our applications move us one step closer to market launch,” Stupka
said. “We’ll work with the FCC and other spectrum holders to make this a
speedy and smooth licensing process.
“We’re gearing up for a broadband launch in Memphis, which will serve as
the model market for offering our customers multiple solutions for
high-speed access services,” Stupka said. “Broadband fixed wireless gives
our customers a competitive, reliable choice for high-speed access
especially in markets where few, if any, options exist.”
The company is seeking a spectrum license in the multichannel multipoint
distribution service and instructional television fixed services spectrums,
until lately the exclusive band for the delivery of one-way video
programming. Efforts by the FCC to open up the spectrum cleared the way
for two-way data traffic.