ERF Wireless Growing Rural Wireless Infrastructure
With stimulus funds on the way to rural areas, you might think companies are waiting to deploy broadband to less-populated areas. ERF Wireless is proof positive that the rural wireless Internet service providers (WISP) are not letting any grass grow under their feet. In the past seven months, the Texas-based firm has grown its coverage area almost 10 percent, adding more than 16,000 square miles of coverage, and has picked up $2.5 million in recurring annual revenues through acquisitions.

ERF Wireless was founded by CEO Dean Cubley in 2004 as a WISP in primarily rural areas. The WISP operates at 400 towers serving 10,000 people across a coverage area of 165,000 square miles in four states: Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

In addition to being a WISP, the company has overlaid its wireless Internet service network on vertical markets including 150 regional banking institutions and the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas services giant Schlumberger resells the ERF Wireless service.

“In our bank networks, we have primarily built towers at each of the bank locations,” Cubley said. “We put up monopoles, anywhere from 60 to 180 feet.”

ERF Wireless gained access to the tower network of Louisiana state police through a long-term cooperative agreement with the state of Louisiana. Two years into the project, ERF has spent $5 million on the wireless infrastructure. The state police towers, which number between 50 and 100 sites, were previously used only for 700-MHz and 800-MHz dispatch operations with T-1s for backhaul.

The system is being upgraded by ERF Wireless with a high-capacity microwave backbone throughout the state. Louisiana receives 1.5 megabit full-duplex throughput, and, in times of emergency, the throughput will be increased to 20 megabits for the state. In return, ERF Wireless gets to use the towers, the power and the backup power for its own WISP network.

ERF Wireless has applied for stimulus funding to extend its networks in Texas and Louisiana, increasing coverage in the less-populated areas. The company is also engaging in partnerships with other potential wireless broadband stimulus applicants that have limited experience in WISP operations.

Cubley said the rural development brought on by stimulus spending will bring a combination of new tower growth and leasing on existing towers. However, those existing towers will need to be brought up-to-date.

“There will probably have to be quite a few towers built because some of the areas are so remote that there are not a lot of resources already there,” Cubley said.

Stimulus funds will also help ERF Wireless to deploy WiMAX technology. Currently, its system operates on a combination of bands that includes 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz and 900 MHz. With a nationwide license in the 3.65-GHz WiMAX band, ERF Wireless plans to build out 100 sites in the next year. But it will also continue to operate in the other bands where it makes sense.

“You are not going to be able to compete with 900 MHz in a heavily forested area. There is no one answer. You mix and match frequency bands and applications,” Cubley said. “Where all things are equal, we will implement 3.65 WiMAX and let that be our standard.”

ERF Wireless also plans to partner with others that have licensed spectrum in the 2.5-GHz band. Once it becomes widely deployed, WiMAX will increase wireless coverage and enhance service offerings, including voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet portability and broadband mobility nationwide.