"A 1000-subscriber system will cost US$400 to US$500 ($1000 to $1200) a subscriber, but only 30 per cent of that investment must be made up front.
"You need to spend the other 70 per cent only as you add subscribers, and because it uses unmanaged frequencies, there is no spectrum to buy."
DECLoop uses the European DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) standard, which operates on general licence radio frequencies in the 1880-1900 MHz range.
The standard is used widely internationally and in New Zealand for short-range cordless phone applications, but BBS has extended its reach with a variety of directional antennae and relay base station options providing a wireless range up to 25km.
The subscriber equipment consists of a wall-mounted unit costing about US$250, which includes an RS232 interface for a PC and a phone jack. The wall unit sends and receives to a base station, which can support up 50 subscribers, usually within a 4km radius.
At the service provider end, a DECT Interface Unit (DIU) connects up to 20 base stations or 1000 simultaneous users to the internet backbone and the phone network.
The DIU automatically separates internet data and analogue voice traffic as well as managing dynamic channel allocation, which Khorrami says is the key to the system's reliability.
He admitted that DECLoop was vulnerable to interference from nearby DECT cordless phone systems, but such conflicts could easily be filtered out. It was just a matter of programming, he said.
Advance Electronics can cite several large DECT-based installations overseas, including a 400,000-user system in Brazil and a network of 70,000 lines in Thailand.
But without a reference site in New Zealand, it may prove hard to sell to local internet providers
Ihug managing director Nick Wood remained unconvinced after a presentation.
"Seventy kilobits per second isn't exactly roaring along," he said, pointing out that DECLoop's wall-mounted receivers cost roughly the same as an Ultra satellite dish.
"Admittedly Ultra is a one-way connection, but it gets data down to the user at up to 4 megabits a second and that's what they want."
Faster wireless local loop systems would appear after a Government spectrum auction this year of frequencies in the 3.4 to 3.6GHz range.
"These frequencies give more scope from the bandwidth point of view and they will be cost effective - I've already seen hardware at trade shows that delivers 10 megabits per second for around US$400 per end user."
Bob Smith, chief executive of Walker Wireless, was similarly unimpressed.
"We think it's got a place in the market, but it doesn't fit in with our core strategy, which is to provide high-speed data and quality of service voice over IP [internet protocol] telephony. They are offering a much lower data rate and circuit switched voice."
BBS
