BellSouth, which already offers broadband fixed wireless service in six cities in the southeast, said today that it will expand the service into five more markets during the third quarter. The announcement came just a day after BellSouth acknowledged that it will start testing Alcatel's Evolium WiMAX platform in its lab next quarter.

The carrier new broadband wireless coverage will extend to parts of Melbourne, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Greenville, Miss.; Charleston, S.C.; and Albany, Ga. This adds to its existing service in Athens, Ga.; Palatka, Fla.; New Orleans, La.; Gulfport, Miss.; and DeLand, Fla. The new markets will use spectrum the company owns in the licensed WCS 2.3 GHz band.

Randy Roberts, vice president of wireless and CPE management at BellSouth, said in a statement that the upcoming expansion is intended to address rural market needs in particular. "One of our primary focuses in these latest deployments has been on our rural customers, some whose only opportunity to experience high-speed Internet is with our wireless broadband service," he said.