Airdata brings Mobile Broadband from IPWireless to Germany and challenges MNOs, ISPs, telcos and commercial WLAN providers
Scheduled to launch in Stuttgart, Germany, towards the end of this month (October 2003) Airdata AG will be a new Mobile Broadband ISP challenging incumbents selling voice and data over fixed and wireless connections. They will offer wireless data with DSL-speed (768 kbps downlink, 128 kbps uplink) at a flat rate comparable to today's fixed DSL flat rates in Germany (30 to 40 Euro/month). Calling this solution
"Portable DSL" Airdata actually uses UMTS-standard-based high-tech from
Silicon Valley startup
IPWireless.
This is really big. IPWireless' CEO Chris Gilbert points out in a very informative Video Interview with ZDNet anchor man Patrick Houston that 2004 will be the heavy wireless year in the US. And Chris Gilbert thinks that within 2 to 3 years his technology (TD-CDMA TDD) will be rolled out in the whole US and many other countries, too. As I said this is big.
Germany's Airdata was co-founded in 1998 by CTO Christian Irmler who wanted to
revolutionize the last mile with the help of wireless technology. While they played around with other technologies during the last years, including the solution from Wiman,
and never really made some money with their Wireless Local Loop license in the 2,6 GHz band, they now seem to have found the key to the wireless kingdom.
I have been in Stuttgart where Airdata's partner and IPWireless reseller Alcatel installed 20 IPWireless base stations and now covers an area of 45 square km. In Airdata's office I received an excellent demo including clear streaming video and funky VoIP based on Skype. As a matter of fact, the UMTS standard includes W-CDMA FDD to which the multi-billion dollar UMTS licenses are bound and TD-CDMA TDD for which 5 of 6 German MNOs have licenses, too,
that they won't use so quickly. Interestingly, FDD is optimal for voice and suboptimal for data. TDD, guess what, is optimal for data and suboptimal for voice. VoIP is data and voice at the same time ...
Airdata agreed with the German Regulator to disable inter-cell handover which, of course, is technically possible with the end2end solution from IPWireless. But this is just to not interfere too much with incumbent MNOs in the beginning. Anyway, it is enough to enjoy the full Internet power on your laptop or (soon) PDA with a wireless flat rate at home, in your friend's place, in the park or the office. You can also connect a WLAN Access Point to your IPWireless radio modem and provide a free (temporary) hotspot to the rest of the crowd in your favourite bar. The Swedish company Possio which enjoys support from Sweden's visionary wireless VC Brainheart Capital already
manufactures an integrated IPWireless modem on a modular PCMCIA card built into a WLAN Access Point. This allows for portable hotspots anywhere and anytime.
Airdata's CEO is Wolfgang Keuntje who built up T-Online in Germany. This time Airdata does not want to become a wireless T-Online but rather stay small and conquer the market with the help of progressive resellers. If this is the best strategy to maximise the value of the WLL license and the benefits of the outstanding IPWireless technology remains to be seen. During our Mobile Kaizen Seminar in Stuttgart on 30.10.03 we will have a live demo of Airdata's Portable DSL. I will also moderate a UMTS Panel at the Medientage Muenchen on 24.10.03 in which Keuntje participates - plus some other interesting key players in the market.
So, please join us to find out on your own if you and many others in the market want to become a customer of Airdata's disruptive Mobile Broadband service.
