AT&T Inc (T)

[sweet crude]

AirGig Shows Industry Shifting to Wireless Fiber

AirGig Shows Broadband Industry Shifting to Wireless Fiber Delivery
By: Staff Reporter, Tom Bustamante
Date: September 22, 2016 7:35 AM EDT

(NEW YORK)--AT&T (NYSE:T) recently announced their new Project AirGig, a transformative technology from AT&T Labs that they hope will one day deliver low-cost, multi-gigabit wireless internet speeds using power lines. Yes, that's right, power lines!

The Company stated this technology will be easier to deploy than fiber, can run over license-free spectrum, and can deliver ultra-fast wireless connectivity to any home or handheld wireless device.

AT&T designed Project AirGig literally from the ground up to be both practical and transformational. The first field trials on AirGig technology are not expected to begin until sometime in 2017.

Move to Wireless Fiber Delivery

In June, Alphabet (NYSE:GOOGL) chairman Eric Schmidt told investors that the company would be testing the concept of delivering wireless internet to homes in Kansas City, Mo., the first market to receive Google Fiber. A Wall Street Journal story on August 15 stated Google says it hopes to go wireless in markets such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, and has suspended the physical deployment of the network in Portland, Ore., and San Jose, California most likely due to the high deployment costs.

Up till now, Fiber has provided low-cost, high-speed internet access through physical infrastructure in the areas it serves, but the labor-intensive process of digging up streets and laying cable was taking longer and costing more money than the Company had expected. The solution? Wireless fiber!

Another player launching wireless fiber to solve 'last mile' broadband delivery is Hammer Fiber Optics (OTCQB:HMMR) out of New Jersey.

Hammer Fiber recently leased 28 GHz wireless spectrum from Straight Path Communications Inc. for use in its broadband wireless network for the New Jersey shore, and plans to install clusters of ten towers that will serve the area to solve the issue of 'last mile' broadband delivery. The Company recently announced begin the second phase of closed beta testing on Absecon Island in New Jersey, and anticipates residential services launch later this year to bring broadband service to residential homes, as well as small and medium businesses, through a combination of fiber optic backbone and proprietary wireless technology.

The Company also intends to add voice and video services to its suite of available products, thus placing them in the potential lucrative "triple play" provider market of Internet, phone, and video all bundled into one package, similar to providers such as Time Warner, Comcast, Dish Network, and Verizon Fios.

When asked about the obvious industry shift on how broadband bandwidth is delivered Mark Stogdill, the CEO of Hammer Fiber commented, "Hammer is pleased to be among the first to have a proven solution to this difficult "last mile" access challenge and it appears that many other operators such as Google and AT&T are now quickly transitioning to wireless fiber technologies".

One of the major business opportunities that Hammer is pursuing is its high-speed last mile services to businesses, internet service providers, and even residential customers who have needs for high-speed data communications. Through the use of the wireless technology, Hammer Fiber is bringing a new level of access to a region that has been plagued by underdeveloped service offerings.

The fascinating thing about AirGig system is that it would piggy-back off of existing power-line infrastructure. Using special antennas AirGig would transmit a millimeter wave signal along power lines, which would then get multi-gigabit Wi-Fi in your home without having a cord running to anything. Added together with Google Fiber, and other small networking companies, AirGig represents the beginnings a 5G cellular data network.
http://www.wallstreetnewscast.com/news/2016/09/airgig-2436.html