Progress Telecom is adding last-mile wireless service to its roster of wholesale and retail offerings and today announced its first CLEC customer.

Using Motorola’s Canopy wireless technology, Progress is delivering service to Proximiti Communications in Orlando, Fla., now and will add service for that company in Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg later this year.

“We are looking at ways to get more traffic onto our fiber network,” said Elizabeth Sheridan Vanneste, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Progress, which operates its fiber optic backbone from Florida up the eastern seaboard to Manhattan, connecting metropolitan areas throughout the Southeast in particular. “With this service, we provide the connectivity into the business and Proximiti gives them phone service and Internet access.”

The wireless technology is much quicker and cheaper to deploy than building fiber links or leasing capacity from the local operator, Vanneste added.

“Our provisioning interval is shorter, our NOC becomes the single point of contact and we’re in charge of the service end-to-end,” added John Balla, manager of marketing and sales support.

Progress offers Ethernet services at 1.5 Megabits per second, 3 Mbps and 5 Mbps. The 1.5 meg service wholesales at $150 a month, Vanneste said.

Progress is also expanding its fiber backbone, building fiber rings in New Jersey to connect the international landing points there and provide data centers on the East Coast a means of connecting to global traffic without going through the 60 Hudson St. carrier hotel in Manhattan.

“A lot of customers are looking for a means to connect to Europe and elsewhere without having to go through Manhattan,” for business continuity reasons, Vanneste said.