Nevada Ready Mix, a ready-mix concrete provider, uses fixed-wireless technology from NextWeb on April 28 to track trucks delivering concrete to construction work sites around the Las Vegas Valley. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky.

Technology's advance and changing competition are creating new opportunities for businesses to get more and better telecommunication services for less, a local communications pioneer said.

Nield Montgomery, founder of the competitive local telephone company now known as Mpower Communications and general manager of The Learning Center, made the observation while discussing the arrival of a new fixed-wireless service in Las Vegas.

NextWeb Wireless, a division of Covad Communications, is offering fixed wireless for broadband Internet and data communications systems for small businesses.

The Covad division has wireless signals that reach about half of metropolitan Las Vegas, and it has established a sales office, Senior Vice President and General Manager Graham Barnes said.

"Every new competitor in town only means the choices are getting more numerous. I encourage any business to regularly examine what they are paying for broadband," Montgomery said. "This is an awesome time for consumers (of telecommunications products)."

Although many kinds of businesses succeed by being the first to offer a product or service, the opposite can happen in telecommunications because of technological innovation and continually decreasing prices for products and services, Montgomery said.

Businesses such as NextWeb are taking a risk by investing in equipment that is expensive now but may be inexpensive and more advanced a year from now, Montgomery said.

NextWeb uses wireless signals to link small-business customers to the Internet, provide data communications and e-mail capabilities. NextWeb systems also can be used for voice over Internet protocol, a new type of local and long-distance phone service delivered over the Internet.

Customers also find customized uses for NextWeb's fixed-wireless service.

Nevada Ready Mix, for example, uses NextWeb to track trucks delivering concrete to construction work sites around the valley.

The construction industry is a key market, Barnes said. Other customers include engineering and architectural companies, Barnes said. In the Los Angeles area, many customers are in the entertainment business.

Small hotels use fixed- wireless systems to provide telephone and high-speed data connections for guests and data transmission for back office functions. Retail stores sometimes use Internet cash management programs and rely on fixed-wireless systems for Internet links to company headquarters.

NextWeb communications are encrypted to protect against hackers from seeing communications, but Barnes said that companies that require the highest level of security typically do not use fixed-wireless systems.

The advantages to other customers include quick and less expensive installation than fiber-optic networks that use light signals to carry data and voice communications. Only 5 percent of the commercial buildings in the United States are connected to fiber-optic networks, Barnes said.

Keyon Communications of Las Vegas has been offering fixed-wireless services to small businesses and residential customers in the Las Vegas area for three years and has expanded to Pahrump and cities in Colorado, Idaho and Iowa.

In Las Vegas, Keyon Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Snyder sees Cox Communications' high-speed Internet service and Sprint Nextel, the dominant local telephone company, as his key competition.

Residential customers account for 80 percent of Keyon's customers, and Snyder said he thinks NextWeb is focusing on larger businesses than Keyon is. NextWeb's customers typically employ two to 100 workers, Barnes said.

Keyon business customers generally have 10 to 20 employees at a local location.

"I'd like to see (NextWeb) be successful, because that just helps the industry," Snyder said.

He agreed with Barnes on some of the advantages that fixed-wireless systems have over fiber-optic lines.

"Wireless fundamentally is very flexible. You can have it when you want it. It costs a huge amount of money to put fiber into a building, let alone to desktops," Barnes said.

"We know we can be very competitive on price," Barnes said. Each installation is different, making it difficult to quote prices, he said.

Fiber installation takes three to six months typically, he said. About 70 percent of NextWeb's customers are hooked up within seven days of ordering the system, he said.

NextWeb doesn't use WiMax technology, which is the new metropolitan area standard for wireless systems, but it provides all of the capabilities of WiMax, Barnes said. He expects the company to convert WiMax later.

Fixed-wireless technology, like that offered by NextWeb, has yet to achieve its potential, Montgomery said.

When combined with voice over Internet protocol and when fully mobile, fixed-wireless technology could become a key telecommunications product, Montgomery said.

"Wireless broadband service has the potential for replacing traditional cellular service," Montgomery said.