Wireless Broadband

First Mile delivers wireless broadband at up to 129 times T1 line speed
January 25, 2008
By Allan Maurer

ATLANTA—Not so long ago, a T1 broadband connection satisfied most businesses, but that has quickly changed, says Stan Allen, CEO of First Mile, which sells its wireless broadband services at speeds up to 129 times that of T1 lines to business tenants of commercial buildings.

First Mile is one of 40 innovative technology companies that will present at the second annual Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 27-28. (For more information on the conference, see: www.seventure.org).

Founded in 2005, the six-employee company raised about $3 million from individual investors. It plans to seek a $10 million to $15 million round shortly. It’s currently hiring people in sales and technology.

“Not long ago, T1 was a lot of bandwidth, but today even small firms like to have 3 megabits per second to 10mbs,” Allen tells TechJournal South.

Uses licensed spectrum<
First Mile uses licensed spectrum RF technology to push data at lightening fast speeds over a line-of-sight path from a building serviced to its hub sites via a small radio antenna on the building and a hub site antenna.

The company offers only point-to-point broadband wireless over secure, licensed spectrum, not public air such as WiFi or WiMax. It guarantees 99.999 percent reliability, boosting its signal during foul weather to maintain service.

In Atlanta, it has a significant relationship with Southern Company and its subsidiary Southern Telecom. First Mile has a hub site on the Georgia Power building that affords access to Southern Telecom’s fiber optic network.

Allen says First Mile’s service has several advantages over fiber optic hookups. “We are wireless and that’s a benefit because we don’t come in through the same conduits fiber providers do. That provides a level of diversity for the customer,” Allen notes.

“We also believe these wireless links are more cost effective and reliable than land-based. So we can sell at a discount under our competitors.”
The company started marketing last summer and has customers numbering in the low double-digits, primarily white-collar professional services firms such as law, PR and Web development, and radiology imaging services.

It provides anywhere from 3mbs to 200mbs services, with the average customer buying in the 15mbs range.

The service costs from $250 a month for 3mbs standby for use as a backup to other providers (which incurs additional charges when used) to up to $2,995 a month for a one-year term of 100mbs service.

Currently operating in Atlanta, the company is preparing to rollout service in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Houston, then other Southeast markets in the second and third quarters this year.

Allen, who started a number of telecom companies going back to the early 1990s, admits, “It’s been a roller-coaster ride. There’s a lot of truth to the saying that the last man standing benefits. It feels as if things are coming back, particularly in the wireless space. There’s plenty of fiber for long haul but the local loop is still a bottleneck, with fewer alternatives for access in buildings.”

On the Web: www.firstmile.com