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MobilePro Wins Another Municipal WiFi Deal in Arizona
[April 20, 2006]

MobilePro Wins Another Municipal WiFi Deal in Arizona


Associate Editor
 
Wireless broadband company MobilePro Corp. has been to design, deploy, and operate a wireless broadband mesh network spanning the city of Yuma, AZ.  This will be the ninth U.S. city to partner with MobilePro on a wireless deployment.


 
Initially, the WazYuma — WAZMetro is the brand name of MobilePro’s municipal network — will cover only a portion of the city’s 106 square miles.  It will provide state-of-the-art technology to the City of Yuma, its residents, businesses, and more than 80,000 estimated annual visitors.

 
It will include a variety of fee-based services and provide secure high speed access to data, voice, and video.  Subscription services will be offered on an annual, monthly, daily or hourly basis and will allow access to multiple Internet service providers.  Subscribers will be able to access the wireless network from anywhere, at any time, as long as they are within the coverage area — something in the area of 150 yards from an access point.
 
All WiFi (News - Alert)-enabled devices will have free access to the network landing page, which will contain information about the service and instructions on how to connect; the city’s Web site will also be available free of charge.  Users will be able to perform personal and business functions from their mobile devices as though they were sitting at their desk at home or in the office, including making VoIP calls.
 
Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson said, “This venture brings a new cost-effective, high-tech, wireless broadband service to our citizens and businesses, enabling us to break the wires and access information across the city without being tied to a desk. This capability will enable Yuma city employees to more effectively provide services without cost to the taxpayer, and provide mobile Internet access for anyone in Yuma at minimal cost.”
 
The decision to choose MobilePro as a partner no doubt owes something to the company’s prior success in the state — MobilePro already has contracts with Chandler, Gilbert, and Tempe municipalities.  WazTempe, the first of the Arizona networks to be built, is a border to border WiFi project in the city.  It has experienced constant growth since its activation earlier this year.  Paying subscriber numbers continue to climb and gross revenues are up 27% from a month ago.
 
Jay Wright, chairman and CEO of MobilePro, said, “Month over month revenue growth is strong, reflecting rising customer usage of our WazTempe network. As we are still early in the customer adoption cycle, we anticipate further rapid growth as people become familiar with the technology and the flexibility that the city-wide wireless network provides.”
 
Deployment of WazYuma is slated to get underway later this year.
 
Erik Linask is Associate Editor of INTERNET TELEPHONY. Most recently, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, an international securities services publication. To see more of his articles, please visit Erik Linask’s columnist page.
 

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