Hiccups in deployments are a “normal progression in the process”

Three major service providers, including AT&T, EarthLInk and Azulstar, told attendees of the Muni Wireless conference in Massachusetts today that disappointments in early muni deployments are an expected part of the process in an emerging technology.Three major service providers, including AT&T, EarthLInk and Azulstar, told attendees of the Muni Wireless conference in Massachusetts today that disappointments in early muni deployments are an expected part of the process in an emerging technology.

Carl Nerup, vice president of business development at AT&T, called recent reports of disappointing performance in muni deployments “a normal progression in the process in any evolving project. We still believe there is a lot of upside in this market.”

Cole Reinwald, vice president of product strategy and marketing for EarthLink Municipal Networks, noted that cellular networks “have been around 15 years and they’ve still got these (coverage) problems.”

The situation with cellular networks was even worse when they were first deployed, York Rhodes III, CEO of Azulstar, pointed out. He noted that early cellular networks were proprietary and callers were able to get service in a competing provider’s area only after roaming agreements had been reached. That took years to achieve. “At least we’re standards-based,” he said.

Because most muni wireless networks use 802.11-based equipment, a user can move across networks and still expect service even at this early stage in the industry.