* BellSouth brings its wireless broadband service to five new markets
BellSouth is expanding its wireless broadband service into five new markets.
The carrier will turn up the service in the third quarter to select parts of Melbourne, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., Greenville, Miss., Charleston, S.C. and Albany, Ga.
BellSouth’s wireless broadband service offers residential and business customers Internet access with downstream speeds up to 1.5Mbps.
The system transmits signals between local radio towers and a small non-line-of-sight desktop subscriber modem and utilizes licensed 2.3 GHz spectrum.
Customers can use the service as backup access to the Internet in the event of a wireline network outage. Customers can also bundle a Wi-Fi service into their wireless broadband service, BellSouth said.
BellSouth launched wireless broadband using pre-WiMAX technology in Athens, Ga., last year. The carrier also offers wireless broadband service in Palatka, Fla., New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., and DeLand, Fla.
BellSouth said it plans to expand the service to additional cities throughout 2006.
Separately, BellSouth announced that it would begin lab trials of WiMAX in the third quarter using Alcatel’s Evolium WiMAX system.
