Eight small telcos ink deals to evaluate new broadband wireless technology

Eight small telcos aren't waiting around to find out whether the Federal Communications Commission moves ahead with its plans to use a 4 Mb/s target for the proposed broadband Universal Service program -- a move that would likely favor broadband wireless deployments, at least in areas that cannot get broadband today. Instead, the eight telcos have signed agreements to evaluate the roll out of mobile broadband technology from xG Technology that operates in unlicensed spectrum bands.

xG Technology is pioneering what the company calls “cognitive” wireless technology that can sense interference from other devices using the same spectrum and hop away from those frequencies, said Chris Whiteley, vice president of business development for xG Technology. Initially the company is targeting spectrum between 902 and 928 MHz -- a band used in the U.S. for garage door openers, baby monitors, cordless phones and some video surveillance. But a new version of the xG chip scheduled for availability in September will also support communications in 100 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the 5.8 GHz range and will be able to shift between the two spectrum bands within 30 milliseconds.