Objective

Nextwave, largest owner of WCS spectrum in US, had to construct a full operational network with commercial customers to preserve its license.

Rationale

Nextwave  partnered with a rural WiMAX operator to build their network. The Nextwave network used the 2.3 GHz spectrum and required coverage in twenty US states with a minimum of commercial customers for each state. 

Due to financial concerns, the selected rural operator became unable to deliver the project and Nextwave selected Spectrum Management Consulting to design and implement, in a record time of 5 months, a project to preserve the WCS license.

Strategy

Thanks to the previous experience of its principals, SMC implemented a master plan and several smaller projects running in parallel and executed by anticipation . Each of them was run by a senior executive with similar successful experiences.  A strong project management office was created to track, in real time, delivery and budget, and models to detect anticipated bottle necks were run every week. Contingency plans were developed in advance for all critical issues and were ready to be implemented at any time.

Results

In less than five month, our team accomplished the following tasks:

-       Design and construction of a WiMAX network in 20 different states

-       Secured all appropriate contracts: Telecom equipment vendors, sites leases with Infrastructure sharing companies, outsourced field operation, installation & maintenance of CPE, purchase of billing software, etc.

- Commercial offering definition (WiFi product connected to the WiMAX network), marketing approach (hotel, residence, schools, etc), field sale for all the products defined, customer installation

-       Network initial configuration. SMC was also granted by Nextwave the network operation for several years.

-       Implementation of a customer care and billing system customized to client needs.

-       Project accounting and project finance monitoring. The project was accomplished within the budget  defined.