NEC's Nextep offers "unlimited" 3G connectivity for private networks

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 16 July 2009 13:17

IT Industry - Strategy

NEC's broadband subsidiary Nextep has become the latest wholesale customer of Optus' 3G wireless broadband service and will use it to provide end users, via channel partners, with wireless access to its private network services.

Nextep says a key feature of the service is that it offers "unlimited 3G mobile access...for a fixed fee, with multiple layers of security...in a manner that is simple and easy to set up and manage."

According to Nextep general manager, Duncan Wallace, "Business grade mobile connectivity services that go beyond simple email and Internet browsing have been out of reach for of all but the largest firms in Australia. Traditionally they require significant set up and integration with major resources from the IT department."

Retail pricing will be set by Nextep and NEC channel partners, but Peter Neatnica, director sales & marketing at Nextep told iTWire "We have priced this [at wholesale level] to be on par with our current low end DSL services." However he added that throughput would be to the limit of whatever the Optus network can support. "The more they crank up that network the better the service will get."

According to Nextep, "The offering...uses a dedicated private portion of the Optus 3G network to deliver assured broadband speeds and quality of service giving businesses guaranteed performance levels and unique performance SLAs."

Neatnica conceded that this exclusivity did not extend to the end user terminal: that Nextep traffic has no priority over the air interface and backhaul from the wireless base station (which can be a bottleneck in 3G broadband services). However he said: "I think Optus might be planning prioritisation of services right down to the base station."

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