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Airspan Networks Case Study
Golden West Companies
Golden West Companies (www.goldenwest.com)
is the largest independent local exchange carrier in South Dakota
and has pioneered advanced communications services for more than 40
years. Its goal has always been to offer its customers the most dependable
communications services at the lowest possible cost. Golden West Companies
provide South Dakotans with local phone service, call center and answering,
cable television and paging services. In 1985 Golden West Technologies
was created to serve the competitive market in Rapid City, primarily
offering telephone systems and paging. Today, the carrier also operates
as an unlicensed Internet service provider to the residential and
business markets.
The Challenge
Golden West Technologies, like many
other local exchange carriers, is the holder of PCS (1.9GHz) spectrum.
It began to look for ways to maximize the value of the spectrum while
at the same time, fulfill Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated
usage requirements. Additionally, Golden West recognized the growing
demand among businesses in Rapid City for high-speed Internet access
and wanted a way to compete with other service providers in the market
that offer conventional DSL or cable modem technology.
The Solution
Golden West Technologies heard that
Airspan Networks had completed a successful deployment of fixed wireless
broadband access in neighboring Iowa and was intrigued by the business
opportunity. Airspan Networks was contracted to deploy its AS4000
wireless DSL platform for high-speed, "always on" Internet access
to customers at data rates of 512kbit/s. Two base stations are centrally
located and have a cell radius of over 10 miles, with a line of sight
operation of over 20 miles in certain directions - essentially covering
all of Rapid City's 70,000 residents and approximately 2200 businesses.
"As an established ISP, we've already
built a customer base in many rural areas. However, Airspan's product
provides us with an effective way to use our PCS spectrum and target
businesses in more urban areas," says Bill Cook, Golden West Technologies
' operations manager. "Airspan does this by offering a premium product
that provides business customers with what they want -- high data
speeds, competitive costs and installation that's quick and easy."
"It's only been a month since the
initial rollout and we're already growing our broadband subscriber
base in areas we've not be able to before," said Cook. "It's great,
our customers like the product, we're utilizing our PCS spectrum,
and we're adding a new revenue stream. I'm looking forward to the
day that we can offer service within 24 hours of an order."
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