NMSurf is deploying a fixed wireless technology in Santa Fe that it claims provides speeds of 100 Mbps to 400 Mbps with non-line-of-sight (LOS) over links of two to three miles and 600 Mbps with LOS links over links greater than three miles.
The company says that the technology will be deployed outside the city and, eventually, the entire state could have access. The fixed wireless platform uses a number of technologies to reach those speeds, according to NMSurf President Albert Catanach.
These include autonomous, adaptive co-channel interference cancellation algorithms, distributed massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), precise digital beam and null forming, closed-loop beamforming adaptation and 3D equalization.
The company positions the technology as a way to alleviate the digital divide at a fraction of the cost that many anticipate will be necessary and says that a software upgrade is planned for next year that will triple the speeds.
“The FCC’s minimum requirement for broadband is 100Mbps by 25Mpbs, which is very hard to achieve in many rural areas; however, with this new technology that employs non-line of sight technology, interference cancellation, and many other astounding features, . . . we believe this is the solution for deploying fast affordable broadband to all New Mexicans,” Catanach said in a press release.
Fixed wireless technology has been advancing rapidly, with some service providers claiming speeds as high as a gigabit per second using technology in which customers’ equipment acts as repeaters for one another, provided that they are in close proximity to each other.
The big question is whether fixed wireless can support such high speeds in rural areas. At least one provider —Resound Networks — says it already is achieving rural gigabit fixed wireless speeds.
If NMSurf’s claims about tripling current multi-hundred-megabit speeds prove true, its technology also could be in that league.
