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Nextel Trial Raises Bar For Wireless Speed

Nextel Communications Inc. Friday announced a trial of high-speed wireless data services using an unconventional technology that has not yet been commercially deployed.

By Christine Nuzum, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/040206/2014001000_2.html

Nextel is testing wireless Internet access in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area based on a system developed by Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU – News) spinoff Flarion Technologies. The technology rivals systems that many U.S. carriers are planning for so-called "third-generation," or 3G, wireless services. Sprint PCS Group ( PCS) and Verizon Communications’ (NYSE:VZ – News) majority-owned Verizon Wireless use gear made by Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM – News) for their high-speed wireless data network, while AT&T Wireless Services Inc. (AWE) and other carriers are preparing to deploy another technology, dubbed "UMTS."

Nextel said the service being tested delivers average speeds of 1.5 megabits per second, with bursts of double that speed, for receiving data. That is comparable to broadband speeds attained via cable or DSL. Users can send data 375 kilobits per second, with occasional bursts as high as 750 kilobits per second.

"It’s superior to the currently available 3G technology," said Yankee Group analyst Phil Marshall.

Verizon Wireless has a service in a few cities, including Washington, D.C., and San Diego that delivers data at 300 to 500 kilobits per second.

In addition to Nextel, three South Korean carriers – SK Telecom CO. , Korea Telecom and Hanaro Telecom Inc. (NasdaqNM:HANA – News) – are testing Flarion’s technology. A Flarion spokesman said other carriers that it cannot name are also testing its products.

Nextel declined to say how much it is paying Flarion, but a spokesman for the Lucent spinoff said its technology costs about $5 to $10 for each inhabitant covered. The trial in North Carolina, which is slated for six months initially and may be extended, will cover a population of a million, said Bin Shen, program director of the trial.

Nextel is testing other technologies for sending wireless data at broadband speeds in the lab, but this is the company’s first market trial of comparable speeds, said Shen.

Nextel currently has a wireless data service which gives users an average speed of 19 kilobits per second. Another technology slated for launch later this year will quadruple that speed, Nextel said.

– Christine Nuzum; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5172

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