UScellular and Tarana Wireless are deploying the vendor’s next generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) platform in West Plains, Missouri.
The platform, which already has been deployed on three UScellular towers, is designed to provide broadband even when line of sight transmissions paths are not available.
“We know that many West Plains residents have limited internet options, and working with Tarana allows us to affordably and efficiently increase the data capacity on our network to enhance our Home and Business Internet offering for customers,” said UScellular Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mike Irizarry.
“We look forward to more people experiencing the benefits and cost savings of having their wireless provider as their internet provider.”
Though this is UScellular’s first test with Tarana, it is far from the first deployment of ngFWA.
In addition to the UScellular and Tarana partnership, the ngFWA platform has gotten significant traction in the past few years:
- In July, a partnership was announced between Osage Broadband and Tarana that will bring broadband to 2,300 square miles of underserved and indigenous communities in Osage County, Oklahoma.
- In April, Mediacom Communications and Tarana said they would partner using the technology to reach unserved households in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
- In March, Tarana and Choice Broadband, the wireless broadband branch of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, launched a broadband network using ngFWA in Tohatchi, New Mexico.
- In April 2023, Tarana and EnerTribe, a Native American and female-owned consulting firm specializing in telecommunications and infrastructure projects said they would offer ngFWA to tribal communities across the United States.
- In January, 2023, VGI Technology, and Tarana reported progress in a deployment of ngFWA deployments in Marble Falls and Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
In September, 2022, Dirk Gates, Tarana’s Founder, Executive Chairman told Telecompetitor that it the company expected to provide FWA for at least one or two of the big winners in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program.
