Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) and Straight Path Communications have signed an agreement to launch a combined 39 GHz product/spectrum solution that widens US coverage of the most cost effective form of carrier-grade backhaul and enterprise access. The agreement will provide a seamless offering of Straight Path’s nationwide 39 GHz spectrum assets, which cover each of the 175 licensed US economic areas, with a new 39 GHz variant of CBNL’s VectaStar® licensed PMP platform.
The 39 GHz VectaStar platform is being developed in CBNL’s R&D Center of Excellence in Cambridge, UK, and signifies the company’s expansion into millimeter wave. The new solution will enable CBNL and Straight Path to provide access to licensed PMP across every major city in the US – offering carriers a high capacity licensed link at almost half the cost of common carrier point-to-point (PTP).
The agreement comes amidst exceptionally strong market demand for CBNL’s VectaStar in the US, driven by its ability to offer up to 13.2 Gb/s per hub site, up to 12 miles range and up to 50 percent total cost of ownership (TCO) savings compared to PTP. Since launching in the 28 GHz LMDS band in late 2014, VectaStar has been quickly adopted by carriers and is already deployed across six states, including New York, California and Texas.
With Straight Path owning an average of over 800 MHz of spectrum in the 30 largest cities in the US, 39 GHz licensed PMP enables multiple operators to expand backhaul coverage of next generation services, such as LTE, carrier-grade enterprise access, small cells and 5G.
As common carrier spectrum becomes increasingly congested, costly and complicated to acquire, the 39GHz VectaStar solution will provide carriers with a highly economical business case to transform network performance and launch new services that are essential to their growth.
The VectaStar 39GHz platform is expected to be launched to the US market in the summer of 2016.
