The fixed wireless access (FWA) activities of Verizon and AT&T have been highlighted in their recent investor discussions (see separate item), but there are plenty of smaller providers of such services in the USA. Some are former broadband wireless operators which are migrating to a 4G/5G model in the CBRS band. Others are looking to harness the millimeter wave bands in 24 GHz, 28 GHz or 39 GHz.
Starry is one of the most prominent of these mmWave players, and has said, in a filing with the FCC, that it is ready to test the “final performance” of its equipment in 24 GHz spectrum, before moving on to “final certification and deployment” and commercial services.
The timescales for full commercial availability have not been finalized but are expected to be late this year. Starry already operates commercially in some markets, but using shared spectrum in the 37 GHz band. Its main locations are the cities of Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Boston.
In 2019, Starry spent $48m on 104 licences in the 24 GHz band, which will cover just over 50 markets in 25 states. Combining the two sources of spectrum will cover about 40m households, the company estimates.
In its filing, Starry said it had gained permission from T-Mobile to conduct tests of the 24 GHz system in Boston, where the smaller firm does not have its own spectrum in this band.
Much of the firm’s activity is likely to be in more rural areas since Starry won $269m in funding from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction last year. It must now deliver connectivity to more than 100,000 rural locations in nine states.
Starry first rose to fame in 2016 when it launched a non-5G platform for point-to-multipoint fixed wireless, using a WiFi-like technology with chips from Quantenna and Marvell.