Broadband wireless provider to enter market

Aaro Broadband Wireless of Missouri LLC will in December begin offering broadband wireless telecommunication services to the Springfield area through a contract with Oklahoma City-based Aaro Broadband Wireless Communications Inc., according to Aaro Missouri President Ron Belcher.

Aaro's services allow companies to use one method of transport for voice, fax, video and data. The company provides phone service, voice mail, conference calling, toll bypass for calls within a network, Internet service, e-mail, Web hosting, e-commerce, voice-over Internet protocol, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and video services, applications hosting and unified messaging.

Aaro provides an alternative to land-based fiber optic networks, which the company says are expensive to install and maintain, build too slowly and are available only in the largest metropolitan areas.

"For companies that can only get DSL (digital subscriber lines) or can't get DSL or fiber, we offer an alternative," Belcher said. "We can provide speeds from to 2 MB all the way up to 155 MB per second."

He said 95 percent of all businesses do not have access to fiber optic service, which is where Aaro comes in the company provides Internet connectivity and downloading up to 100 times faster than speeds allowed through a modem or a DSL.

"Comparing DSL to a pipe, entering the computer it's one size, but going out it's much smaller. With the bandwidth we provide, which is a minimum of 2 MB per second, the pipe is the same size both ways can handle the same amount of information coming or going," Belcher said.

He said one application for Aaro's high-speed services are to alleviate the bottleneck experienced by architects or engineers when they try to e-mail drawings to clients using a DSL. The company's target markets are major corporations with offices in multiple cities, as well as networked small businesses and cities wanting to link government entities for disaster response or distance-learning purposes.

Aaro Broadband Wireless Communications Inc.'s contract with Belcher's Missouri company is its first regional distribution contract, according to an Aaro press release.

Under the agreement, Aaro Missouri will pay a $250,000 distribution fee to provide service to the Springfield area, use the Aaro name and utilize the company's national operations center in Oklahoma City and its national data distribution network.

Aaro President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Baker said in the release that Aaro will realize a substantial portion of the gross billed revenue over the life of the agreement, with a pre-established monthly minimum. At the end of the contract, Aaro Missouri has two five-year renewable options on the agreement.

"This is a great partnership for both groups. Thanks to Aaro Missouri, businesses in Springfield will have access to high-speed wireless Internet connectivity and such productivity-driven services as voice-over Internet and videoconferencing," Baker said in the release.

Aaro technicians will make the initial installations here and will train Aaro Missouri's engineering staff as they join the company.

"From that point forward, they will be a completely self-sustaining operation," Baker said.

Belcher said he hopes getting Aaro's Springfield operation off the ground will be Aaro Missouri's first step in serving southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas.

The Springfield office, located in the Hammons Tower, will house two employees. Belcher plans to commute to Springfield three to four days a week from his office in Springdale, Ark.

"We will utilize licensed resellers to sell our services. We provide the services by plugging into a company's phone room. Then it's up to the retailer or the company's IT department to take it to the employees' desktops," Belcher said.

In addition to its headquarters in Oklahoma City, Aaro has offices in Tulsa, Okla., Austin, Texas and Denver.

The company was founded in early 2000 and went public in May.

It trades under the stock symbol AARW.