Partnering with affiliate company Nextlink, XO Communications today announced expansion of its fixed broadband wireless service into 24 new markets, providing alternative last-mile connections to service providers and business customers.

The new markets are Akron, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado Springs, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Tucson and Wilmington, Del. XO was already providing service in 12 markets, using Nextlink’s local multipoint distribution service spectrum.

The fixed broadband wireless links are a way for service providers to avoid having to depend on incumbent providers for copper or fiber links, and also can provide redundancy for service continuity, said John Grady, director of marketing for Nextlink. Wireless technology can be deployed more quickly and is a cost-effective way to provide high-speed access to buildings not served by fiber optics, he added.

“With the whole notion of redundancy and network survivability, wireless is providing a great avenue for our customers’ customers to meet the stringent Sarbanes-Oxley demands for survivability,” Grady said. “The network resiliency product--coupled with battery backup--provides a way to stay connected.”

XO will provide last-mile access packaged in both TDM and Ethernet options, said Bob Beran, president and CEO of Nextlink. “We can provide service anywhere from a T-1 to an OC-3,” he said. “We can go to OC-12, but the sweet spot tends to be in the 10-Meg to OC-3 range. We are seeing a lot of activity in the 100 Megabit range for Ethernet.”

One deployment of the service is to link multiple locations in a single city to create a wireless metropolitan area network, he said.

LMDS requires line-of-sight connections and does have distance limitations, Grady said, but the service is easily deployed for last-mile connections and for wireless backhaul services.

XO is a strong retail partner for Nextlink’s wholesale wireless capabilities because the company is already selling to businesses, Beran added. More companies are looking for alternative providers today as industry consolidation has reduced the number of competitive carriers, he said.