News & Press Releases
Carlson Wireless Wins Multimillion Dollar Contract from Qwest
Publication: Times Standard, Eureka, California
Jennifer Morey, March 30, 2004
REDWAY - Dial tone is something so basic, so taken-for-granted that most of us never even think about it. Those on Navajo lands in New Mexico, as well as tribal and rural areas throughout the country, have been waiting for it for years.
Soon more than 400 orders on the Navajo Nation will be filled and homes in these rural areas will have access to phone, fax and dial-up Internet service. Qwest Communications is installing a radio-operated phone system from Carlson Wireless Technologies.
Qwest serves 14 Navajo communities in western and northwestern New Mexico. Carlson is the only company that passed field trials conducted by Qwest last month. The trials showcased Carlson's system that transmits voice and data from a tower-based antenna to homes up to 30 miles away.
The outcome of the trials means millions of dollars in business to Carlson Wireless.
"We're finishing the contracts right now. We should be done by the end of the week," said Ron Hooper, vice president of corporate development. "It's a universal contract with Qwest."
That means Carlson won't just be providing service for the Navajo, but also for other Qwest applications on an "as needed" basis.
In fact, before the Navajo Nation project even gets started, Qwest has already ordered a system to be used at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, to replace the outdated and lower quality system it's had in place there for years.
One of the main issues with providing service on tribal lands has been the environmental impact of traditional service that requires numerous telephone poles and wires.
Hooper said for Qwest, this application was critical because the solution needed to reach over sacred lands and lands where Qwest had no rights of way.
In fact, in the last three years Qwest has spent a half-million dollars trying -- unsuccessfully -- to gain those rights of way, so it was essential to find a solution, and fast.
"The key area we won on was that 'poles-and-wires' issue," said Hooper. "Most of our business is in 30 miles or under, and in fact more likely in the 5- to 10-mile range where we're very, very strong. They don't want cell towers, and they didn't want any other types of environmental distractions."
In Qwest's field tests, Hooper said, Carlson was up against some of the biggest players in the radio telephone market. The difference is that many other companies base their systems on typical cellular technology.
"Most of these companies develop a wireless application around a modular cell system," he said. "When Jim (Carlson) built this product he never meant to be cellular technology. It was always meant to be point-to-point. This company does just one thing but it does that one thing very, very well. It's high quality phone service and it's all point-to-point."
Qwest had been fined previously for not provided basic phone service, especially access to 911 emergency service. The law requires the local phone company of record to provide these services.
"We all pay between 5 to 12 percent of our phone bills to the Universal Service Fund that subsidizes remote and rural telephone service," Hooper said.
Carlson's systems, which can be solar-powered, produce a signal quality equal to that of the copper phone lines that run through most U.S. cities and towns. To prevent eavesdropping, signals are encrypted for privacy.
The company, which is privately held, has sold systems worldwide for remote applications such as mining and industrial sites, offshore oil rigs, ranchers, rural phone companies, and for temporary and emergency phone service. The U.S. Border Patrol and other government agencies are also Carlson customers.
Carlson had $1.8 million in sales last year and Hooper said it's looking to more than double that in 2004. The company employs about 18 people at its headquarters in The Meadows business park in Redway, and Hooper said it expects to add maybe another 10 or so within the next year or two.