Nextlink Internet and Tarana have entered a formal collaboration toward large-scale improvements in the US broadband landscape. In September, the companies announced a partnership to bring reliable, low-latency gigabit broadband service to under- and unserved communities and rural regions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
In the strategic alliance, Nextlink said it is using Tarana’s G1 platform to compete in local markets with fiber providers, taking market share with rapid deployment of fast, affordable broadband service. The partners expect to expand service to hundreds of rural counties over the next several years, covering over a quarter million households. Nextlink noted it is also using the platform to go above and beyond its regulatory commitments, delivering 500 Mbps service where it was obligated to deliver 100 Mbps service.
Nextlink’s network initiative is also leveraging a new set of G1 capabilities from Tarana. Nextlink said it plans to employ a combination of fiber and gigabit fixed wireless to meet its RDOF obligations. The partners maintain that Tarana is uniquely positioned to help Nextlink deliver on such promises.
Tarana’s G1 platform can deliver gigabit services at impressive distances and in non-line of sight (NLoS) paths. The difference is a technology which Tarana has termed “next generation FWA” (ngFWA), powered by Tarana’s proprietary, purpose-built broadband architecture featuring fundamental advances in real-time radio signal processing.
The company says its unique approach "enables reliable, fiber-class service in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, and is a perfect complement to a fiber build, delivering superior blended economics and shorter deployment timelines."
Tarana CEO Basil Alwan commented:
“Our mission from the start has been to enable materially faster progress in closing the world’s persistent digital divide — we’re honored and excited by our collaboration with Nextlink to that end.”
Bill Baker, Nextlink’s CEO, concluded:
“The digital divide remains a pressing issue for most Americans in rural areas, and service affordability is also a big problem in many mainstream markets. G1 is enabling us to address these issues at large scale at a pace measured in months instead of years. Early users on the network are enjoying affordable, uncapped high-speed internet access. We’re looking forward to building this network out quickly.”