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Mediacom will use Tarana’s ngFWA platform for RDOF builds in four states
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Mediacom SVP Thomas Larsen told Fierce the company can potentially use Tarana tech “in a lot more areas,” thanks to the CBRS spectrum it owns
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A Tarana spokesperson said its platform is a step-up from legacy FWA approaches
Mediacom is proving that even though it's a cable and fiber provider, it's happy to use fixed wireless access (FWA), too.
Mediacom announced on Tuesday it will use Tarana’s next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) broadband technology in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina – states where it’s won funding from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
The operator’s required RDOF buildout target is 5,694 locations, said Thomas Larsen, Mediacom’s SVP of government and public relations. Those locations will be Mediacom’s “initial focus.”
“Within the RDOF areas, the plan is to build exclusively FWA,” Larsen said.
But the company thinks it can reach additional locations that are adjacent to its RDOF areas with Tarana’s ngFWA tech – known as the G1 platform.
In 2020, Mediacom purchased a number of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) licenses, intending to bid in RDOF for fixed wireless buildouts in markets adjacent to its existing wireline network.
“All of these RDOF areas are adjacent to our existing wireline markets and some are adjacent to FTTH grant projects we won in Alabama,” said Larsen.
He added Mediacom owns CBRS spectrum in 178 counties, so it has the potential to use Tarana’s technology “in a lot more areas” than the states where it won RDOF money.
“We expect to be very aggressive in pursuing broadband grant funding for FTTH through the BEAD program, and there may be some potential to fill in missing gaps using FWA,” Larsen said.
A new approach to FWA
Tarana is helping other ISPs deploy fixed wireless in areas where fiber may be more expensive to build. Bluespan, Watch Communications and Wisper are a few companies that have said they’re using Tarana’s fixed wireless tech.
Last year, Tarana announced a $50 million funding round led by investment firm Digital Alpha. The fresh capital will be used to scale sales and deployment for the G1 platform.
A Tarana spokesperson told Fierce Network the company chose to partner with Mediacom because of the operator’s focus on small towns and cities. Mediacom is “one of multiple cable operators and other ISPs outside of the conventional WISP segment” that’s leveraging Tarana’s ngFWA platform.
FWA seems to be frequently at odds with fiber, especially as the NTIA prioritizes fiber deployments for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Cable operators like Charter have also noted the impact FWA competitors have had on their broadband net adds.
“There is an important distinction between legacy FWA and what we do, as our technology was built from the ground up over 12 years to overcome the challenges inherent in repurposing mobile or Wi-Fi wireless tech for fixed broadband applications,” said the Tarana spokesperson. “We are helping an ever-wider variety of operators rethink their approaches to delivering broadband, many of whom wouldn’t traditionally deploy fixed wireless.”
The spokesperson touted Tarana has made advancements in FWA deployment such as “strong immunity to radio interference in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum” as well as “the ability to connect in non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions.”
FWA subs are growing in the U.S. According to a New Street Research report from November, FWA claimed more than 80% of industry broadband adds over the last six quarters. And 20% of FWA gross adds are new to broadband, so fixed wireless is expanding the fixed broadband market.