The latest FCC report on form 477 broadband data is out (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296239A1.pdf). While I don't see a whole lot of useful data in it, I do see where WISP's are killing themselves and the industry, why?
a.. In the periods prior to the December 2008 report, fixed wireless has shown a steady increase in subscribers. The last reporting period the number of subscribers dropped from 808,000 to 488,000!!! That's a 39.6% drop in the actual data that had been previously reported. Know I know that most of the problem is the fact they now require census tract reporting rather than zip codes, but dropping like this does not help the industry as a whole. b.. Because of the low number of reported subscribers, the reporting by technology portions of the report does not even earn fixed wireless a spot on the charts in it's own category. It's lumped in with the 1.4% total of all other technologies compared to the rest of the broadband industry. Hell Satellite has their own category with .9%. c.. The total number of fixed wireless providers reporting is 617. That means there are a huge number of WISP's not filing form 477 and those that didn't report must have a large number of subscribers. The previous period where fixed wireless had 808,000 subscribers had only 505 WISP's report! Matt Larsen and the WISP directory have around 1,800 WISP's registered. I've heard other estimates between 2,000 and over 4,000. Only 617 fixed wireless operators reporting is not helping the cause at all. d.. The National broadband plan is being formulated as we speak, looking at those statistics it appears the WISP industry is in a serious decline and that as a total percentage of broadband provided to consumers nationally, they make no significant difference. If you were a government policy maker, would you even pay attention to WISP's. I certainly would not. They have to make decisions based on data and that benefit the majority of the country. WISP's have thumbed their noses at providing this data for years. I think it is really going to bite them in the butt now. Fiber to the home is coming liking it or not. USF reform is coming like it or not. USF reform is going to subsidize broadband to the very markets wireless serves more economically today. Removing that advantage is going to put the WISP industry in serious trouble. The manufacturers are killing themselves as well. In their quest to just sell radios, they have missed the importance of keeping the industry healthy. If the WISP's cannot compete and/or show that they are a significant option to the overall broadband infrastructure in the US, how will they continue to sell product. If anyone knows the true number of WISP's out there it is the manufacturers. They should be leading the charge with groups like WISPA to make sure ALL WISP's stand up and get counted. How hard would it be to stuff each shipment with educational material on the importance of filing form 477? The current FCC is very open minded but the results of this type of report force them to make decisions that benefit the most people. 488,000 is a very small portion of over 129 million homes. All I can say is ouch........ Thank You, Brian Webster -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
