For a small—50 employees—family-owned company, global exposure may seem beside the point with roots firmly planted in the great white north, but the Vancouver WiMAX launch is the official debut of a reborn Craig with a more global perspective.
Founded over 60 years ago, Craig was originally a regional broadcaster. In the 1990s, it diversified into wireless cable TV—using MDS or multipoint distribution system technology—and then into broadband wireless access. More recently, Craig has remade itself as a “4G” company with an international footprint.
Even before the coming-out party in Vancouver, the company will launch WiMAX service in Palm Springs, California and most of the rest of the Coachella Valley. It also plans to launch in Manitoba in central Canada, its original home base, and in Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece—all in 2010.
The company has spectrum in Norway and New Zealand, as well. The spectrum is 2.5GHz everywhere except Greece where Craig will be using 3.5GHz.
It will deploy WiMAX 802.16e infrastructure everywhere—supplied by Motorola in the case of the Vancouver network—but in all of the other markets it will start with fixed/nomadic service and work towards the coverage density needed for mobile.