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Wireless and Stimulus: A Perfect Match

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), widely known as the stimulus bill, allocates
$7.2 billion in grant and loan funding for broadband/wireless initiatives for rural unserved, and
underserved geographies across the country. This funding is available to a wide variety of
organizations to purchase and implement network infrastructure and services to improve broadband
coverage.

In addition to the broadband initiative, the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG) was
recently announced with close to $4 billion available to utilities, rural electric cooperatives,
distribution companies and system operators, for smart grid technologies, monitoring solutions and
infrastructure, and viability analysis. Implementing communications infrastructure for intelligent
energy initiatives is also a key part of this program.

When it comes to securing broadband stimulus funds, network providers are currently faced with
some fairly uncertain circumstances. Challenged with navigating through the uncertain fund
allocation process, operators continue to struggle with determining how to write a convincing and
winning application and choosing the right solution, technology and vendor to best suit their specific
needs.

The most fundamental technology decision related to implementing these communications networks
is choice of physical network technology. Physical network infrastructure does not exist in many
rural and underserved areas, so operators are faced with the dilemma of choosing the best
technology to meet their specific needs. Because they are best able to deliver on the deployment
speed, low cost and public interest criteria, wireless solutions are rapidly emerging as the most
viable option for stimulus-related projects.
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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

KEY CRITIERIA FOR STIMULUS SUCCESS

While final criteria for stimulus funding have yet to be defined, a number of broad guidelines are available
today. In an effort to provide guidance to applicants, summarized below are a number of important qualification
criteria for allocation of these loans and grants for both broadband and smart grid programs.

Rapid project commencement and completion are key criteria to develop winning applications

Criteria for NTIA and RUS Stimulus Awards

Broadband Stimulus (NTIA+RUS): $7.2B

Timeliness Shovel ready! Rapid commencement and completion are key criteria for winning applications.
Preference will be given to projects that can be started and completed expeditiously.
Cost As is generally the case, lower overall cost is considered an important criterion.

While there is no minimum speed requirement, overall consideration will be given to broadband
speed being delivered. The technology proposed should be scalable and appropriate to the
Technology coverage area, and awards will be made on a "technologically neutral" basis. The program
makes no distinction as to wireline, wireless or satellite and may favor programs that offer choice
in broadband providers.

Preference will be given toward projects enhancing education, healthcare, safety, and
minority/vulnerable populations, including elderly, children and native populations.
Public interest
Projects are favored that create immediate and sustainable jobs and bring broadband to the
largest percentage of underserved residents and businesses.

Job creation and Projects will be evaluated based on the extent to which they create and retain jobs.
retention
Along with general project feasibility, evidence of strong and clean business practices is
Business integrity important. Projects that leverage existing resources (towers, etc) and scaled to fit the
community at large are considered favorable.

Criteria for SGIG Stimulus Awards

Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) Program: $3.375B

Project approach Considerations given to work plan, cyber security coverage, rapid installation and deployment,
and feasibility overall team, credibility of vendor commitments, and a number of other factors.
The project’s overall public benefit is a key factor in selecting projects for funding.
Project impact Important factors include: reduced emissions, lower costs, enhanced cost-effectiveness,
increased reliability, greater energy security, and flexibility to accommodate new energy
technologies, including renewable, intermittent and distributed sources.
Job creation and Projects will be evaluated based on the extent to which they create and retain jobs.
retention
Extent of cost- Applications will be evaluated based on the extent of cost-share proposed with the minimum
sharing cost-sharing required being 50 percent.

Based on these criteria, operators are being challenged to optimize costs, deployment timeframes, and general
public benefit when implementing their broadband programs. As such, many see wireless as the favored
approach to meet these overall objectives.

“The key overriding objective is that the funds be spent in the short term and for the right purposes…
Microwave backhaul for the middle mile is particularly valuable for isolated communities.”

Congressman Rick Boucher, Chair of the House Energy Committee's Subcommittee on

Communications, Technology, and the Internet

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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

TOP 10 REASONS WHY WIRELESS IS THE IDEAL TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR

STIMULUS PROJECT

1. W I R E L E S S O F FE R S F AS T , S H O V E L - R E AD Y D E P L O Y M E N T S
Offering the promise of fast deployments, wireless solutions enable operators to meet aggressive deployment
timelines and as such are expected to garner a large share of this funding. Unlike wireline solutions such as
fiber, wireless networks involve faster deployments. The challenges with fiber-based solutions are the time and
cost to deploy the fiber. In North America, it takes six to nine months to deploy fiber in a location. This is the
1
time required to plan, engineer, order, install, and build the fiber .

2. W I R E L E S S S O L U TI O N S AR E L O W E R C O S T
Transmission cost per bit for wireless broadband, such as WiMAX, is estimated to be at least 40 to 50 percent
2
lower than the cost for DSL and as much as 80 percent lower than the cost of fiber . In terms of backhaul,
similar figures apply.
3
Cost of Fiber Deployment vs. Wireless

Fixed Wireless (including Microwave) Fiber

Deployment Cost $50,000 per 100 Mbit/s link, fully installed $200,000 to $800,000 per mile

For a three-mile link, cost savings of using wireless / microwave rather than fiber can be as high as $2,350,000
per link. For operators interested in making the best use of their grant funding, wireless solutions generally offer
the most favorable return.

3. H I G H B AN D W I D T H A N D C AP AC I T Y P R O V I D E D B Y S T AT E - O F - T H E - AR T
W I R E L E S S S O L U TI O N S P R O V I D E U L T R A- F AS T B R O AD B AN D S E R V I C E S
Today’s high-speed WiMAX access and microwave backhaul solutions can deliver upward of 30 Mbit/s to the
end-user and more than 1 Gbit/s per backhaul link. These high transmission rates meet the needs of the most
demanding video services and broadband internet requirements.

4. V AR I O U S W I R E L E S S “ BR O A D B AN D AC C E S S ” T E C H N O L O G Y O P T I O N S
AV AI L AB L E
In addition to WiMAX, LTE and other 4G access technologies, for many applications microwave can function
as the “access” and “backhaul” functions. A well-known, established technology, microwave can operate in the
access network to offer wide spectrum availability and extremely high capacity. Microwave can be leveraged in
the access network to bring broadband connectivity to a number of public safety, education, utilities and other
applications.

“The Commission must rely heavily on wireless broadband as a major way to reach rural areas, and
recognize consumers’ significant demand for mobile devices.” FCC Commissioner Adelstein from
memorandum re: National Broadband Plan Notice of Inquiry, Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer, LLP

1 Source: ABI Research: Mobile backhaul - Global market analysis and forecast 2009-2014

2 Source: ABI Research

3 Source: Harris Stratex Networks

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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

5. W I R E L E S S D E LI V E R S HI G H L Y R E L I AB L E T R AN S P O R T
Wireless solutions deliver fiber-like reliability at lower cost and deployment times. WiMAX provides high levels
of security and uptime, while microwave is a proven technology with years of 99.999 percent availability
running the most critical emergency voice and data services. Not subject to backhoe fades and other failure
scenarios, wireless transport solutions often exhibit superior uptime when compared to fiber.

6. W I R E L E S S AD D R E S S E S R I S I N G D E M AN D F O R M O B I L I T Y
Unlike wireline solutions, wireless access such as WiMAX offers broadband mobility. Providing the equivalent
functionality of traditional fixed broadband over wireless access, WiMAX goes a step further to provide mobile
broadband capabilities—all with the same wireless infrastructure.

7. W I R E L E S S L O WE R S B AR R I E R S T O M AR K E T EN T R Y
With availability of stimulus funding and proven wireless solutions, the lack of extensive fixed networks is no
longer an impediment to delivering broadband solutions. In cases where network infrastructure already exists,
wireless solutions can build on deployed equipment, providing seamless growth and lower overall costs.

To make the most of existing investments, fixed backhaul or core network infrastructure can be extended, and
existing towers can be reused to deliver new WiMAX access and high-speed microwave backhaul networks.

8. S P E C T R U M I S B E I N G M AD E AV AI L AB L E
Broad licensed and unlicensed spectrum is available for microwave applications. The lightly-licensed 3.65 GHz
band is available for shared spectrum applications, and many companies have purchased licenses for other
bands.

Following the DTV transition, the FCC has put in place a regulatory framework for the 700 MHz public safety
band to facilitate the establishment of a nationwide, interoperable broadband communications network for the
benefit of state and local public safety users. This spectrum, along with the already established 4.9 GHz band,
increases frequencies available for public safety applications.

Furthermore, the FCC is committed to ensuring optimum spectrum efficiency and providing the most possible
frequency availability for stimulus-related projects.

With availability of stimulus funding and proven wireless solutions, the lack of extensive fixed
networks is no longer an impediment to delivering broadband solutions

9. W I R E L E S S S O L U TI O N S AR E I D E AL F O R P U B L I C - I N T E R E S T AP P L I C AT I O N S
Because of low cost, deployment flexibility, speed and mobility characteristics, wireless solutions provide the
ideal technology for community anchor and public safety applications.

Enabling these institutions to focus on their core competencies, vendors providing turnkey wireless network
solutions can take the complications out of the network infrastructure and technology and are extremely
attractive to these applications.

1 0 . U S A- B AS E D W I R E L E S S C O M P AN I E S S U P P O R T AM E R I C AN J O B S
Many American-based wireless vendors have products that meet Buy America requirements. In addition, these
USA-based wireless technology vendors have headquarters and engineering functions located inside USA,
which fosters domestic jobs. For this reason, these companies can be compelling partners for grant proposals.

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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

WIRELESS SOLUTIONS: RELEVANT STIMULUS APPLICATIONS

In addition to residential broadband providers, there are a number of organizations and groups that are well-
positioned to take advantage of wireless technologies for stimulus-related projects. The following table includes
a few, but certainly not all, of the likely candidates.

State/Local and Municipal Governments Utilities Rural Carriers

Education and Other Public Safety Electric Cooperatives (LEC/ILEC/CLEC)
Organizations

• Delivering broadband • Police, fire, ambulance, • Remote meter reading • Broadband to

technology and E-911, hospital (electricity, gas, water, rural/underserved
services to schools, applications etc.) residences and
libraries, hospitals and businesses
other public service • Site security, video • Distribution automation
institutions surveillance and
monitoring, in-car • Video monitoring
• Delivering broadband video, incident (substations, plants,
technology and communications, infrastructure, etc.)
services to city/state automatic vehicle • Phasor measurement
offices location unit (PMU) monitoring
• Delivering broadband • Broadcast
and broadband communications
services to native infrastructure for video,
communities voice and data
communications and
warning detection
systems
Figure 1. Stimulus-Applicable Applications

AVIAT NETWORKS “STIMULUS-READY” WIRELESS REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE

The Aviat Networks stimulus-ready wireless reference architecture is composed of the multi-service physical
network with service-specific applications, turnkey services for solution implementation, and network
management for ongoing operations.

For optimum effectiveness and maintainability, and in addition to physical network infrastructure, an ideal
wireless network implementation should consider all of these components. Leveraging the benefits of wireless
technology, this comprehensive network architecture is a well-suited reference for stimulus-related projects.

Figure 2. Solution Architecture

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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

N E TW O R K
Access, backhaul, transport and core network components should interwork seamlessly to deliver a multi-
service network capable of delivering fixed and mobile high-speed broadband solutions to a variety of
applications.

The following figure presents a reference architecture composed of high-speed wireless access built on
WiMAX and microwave technologies, microwave transport and backhaul, core networking components and an
overall network management system to provide effective ongoing operations capabilities. Stimulus-specific
implementations may use all or part of this physical network architecture.

Figure 3. Stimulus-Ready Physical Network Architecture

AP P L I C AT I O N S AN D S O L U T I O N S
Making use of wireless or wireline network infrastructure, value-added applications build on end-to-end
physical networks to deliver key capabilities to end users. Implementing a high-speed, multi-service network
that can support various applications (residential and commercial broadband, public safety solutions, utilities
solutions, etc.) is key to optimizing infrastructure investments.

Value-added applications and services drive operator revenue and differentiation in an increasingly competitive
environment and provide new opportunities under the broadband stimulus program. Some of these
applications, often important for rural areas, include:

• E-Learning and distance learning

• Tele-medicine

• Distribution automation

• Phasor management unit (PMU) monitoring

• Triple-play services (VoIP, video, data).

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WIRELESS AND STIMULUS: A PERFECT MATCH

T U R N K E Y S E RV I CE S
Wrapping turnkey services around all of the network and applications
components ensures that the network provider receives the required
network design and implementation necessary for successful and
timely service turn-up. A comprehensive turnkey service offering
should include a range of services covering the network infrastructure
and solutions design, deployment, management and support. Turnkey
services are often overlooked as a critical component in the overall
network planning, deployment and operations.

N E TW O R K M AN AG E M E N T
Designing the network from the ground-up with management in mind is
essential aspect of any network design. Building in management
capabilities is key to ongoing service success and enables lower overall operational costs.

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP?

For more information go to WWW.AVIATNETWORKS.COM/ABOUT/GOSTIMULUS.ASP.

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