BellSouth to Launch High-speed Wireless Internet Access Trial in Rural Louisiana

A concern for carriers continues to be how to offer their rural customers the same level of service that those customers in metropolitan areas receive. As part of ongoing research efforts, BellSouth Corp. (Dallas) plans to run a high-speed, wireless Internet access trial in Houma, LA, to test whether the service is viable.

BellSouth CEO F. Duane Ackerman unveiled the Louisiana wireless Internet trial in Washington Thursday at the "Digital Divide Summit," a meeting of leaders from the technology industry, government, civil rights community, and community organizations. The conference was chaired by Commerce Secretary William M. Daley and focused on expanding access to information technologies to under-served populations and areas.

The Louisiana trial will be begin early next year and is designed to provide BellSouth with a more accurate assessment of the technical and financial feasibility of providing its rural customers an affordable, high-speed Internet connection using wireless technology.

Participants will be given a special modem and wireless receiver for downloading information. They will use traditional dial-up connections to establish a link with BellSouth's Internet access service. The information will be sent to their computers via wireless technology at speeds up to 1.5 Mbps, which is 50-100 times faster than a traditional land-line, dial-up Internet connection.

BellSouth is conducting the trial over the Wireless Communications Service (WCS) spectrum that it purchased at auction from the FCC. The company is looking at the WCS spectrum as an option for delivering Internet accessibility to its rural customers.

During the trial, BellSouth is partnering with ADC Telecommunications (Minnetonka, MN), which is providing its Cellspan broadband wireless equipment, as well as its integration and operations expertise.