Small C-Com takes on large task to bring wireless

BOULDER – C-Com Affinity Telecom Inc. isn’t Google or Earthlink, but the 10-employee company in Boulder is set to take on a similar challenge – providing high-speed wireless Internet services in metropolitan areas.

In August, C-Com signed a letter of intent with 10 cities – including Boulder, Broomfield, Louisville and Superior – that would allow it to sell wireless Internet and voice services to local residents. It is working with Toronto-based BelAir Networks, which will manufacture and install the transmitters on city-owned light posts.

The 10 cities, known as the Colorado Wireless Communities, also include Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Northglenn, Thornton and Wheat Ridge. The area covers 137 square miles with a population of about 620,000.

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C-Com won’t stay small for long, said CEO Fred Chernow. The company expects to employ 700 people in the Boulder/Denver metro area by 2013.

C-Com is looking for about $15 million in investments and loans to launch the 10-city program and grow the company. It is soliciting venture capital, investment bankers, foreign investors and individuals for the funds. The revenue from the services provided will eventually help to pay off debts and fuel the company.

The company plans to charge $14.99 for the high-speed wireless Internet access, which will be available practically anywhere within the 10 cities. It will charge $9.99 for residential voice services and $12.99 for extra features. Customers can keep their original phone numbers, and long-distance calls would cost about 2 cents to 3 cents per minute.

There will be short-term services available to visitors, with the first 30 minutes free and beyond that $2 a day. All customers will have to register their computers, laptops or wireless Internet devices with C-Com so only those devices will work with a specific account.

Wireless less expensive

C-Com and BelAir expect to begin work on installing the network in January. Completion is expected within 12 to 16 months.

Wireless services are less expensive to install than cable, and the company passes the savings onto the customers, according to Chernow.

“If you were to lay one linear mile of fiber-optic cable that would cost $200,000 a mile – or about $2 million to cover a square mile,” Chernow said. “A square mile of a wireless network costs about $100,000.”

In downtown Fort Collins, FRII has deployed a wireless mesh network that relies on transmitters mounted on public utility poles as the first step toward a continuous regional wireless network. The company is in discussions with Windsor, Berthoud, Loveland, Greeley and Colorado State University to expand the network.

Colorado law precludes cities from going into the business of providing wireless Internet service, but the cities can give the right to private companies. C-Com and seven other companies submitted proposals to the 10-city consortium, and C-Com was selected to provide the service.

“They provided a solid solution for us,´ said Francis Duffy, Boulder’s interim information technology director.

Duffy said C-Com stood out for several reasons. It didn’t require the cities to buy services – although the cities will likely become customers – and C-Com’ s plan is to provide both data and voice services. The consortium thought C-Com had a solid footing because it isn’t solely relying on selling wireless data services. The company already provides some communication services to Boulder and other Colorado cities.

C-Com also boasts some longtime local tech experience.

Chernow spent 20 years at Bell Telephone Laboratories and was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Colorado.

Vice President Gary Garrison worked for Bell and received his master’s degree at CU. The company recently hired Bill Sweeney, former Maxtor vice president and general counsel, as its new president.