Bluespan Builds Hybrid Fiber/Wireless Network for Arizona, Washington Communities

Flagstaff, Arizona, and Milpitas, California — Bluespan and Tarana unveiled several hybrid fiber and wireless broadband network projects, resulting in more than 750,000 homes passing across Arizona and Washington state. Operating in Arizona and Washington since 2001, Bluespan mainly offers fixed wireless broadband service.

Bluespan was an early adopter of Tarana’s technology, first using G1 to overlay their entire network in Flagstaff, Arizona to provide better internet speeds to their customers. Before ngFWA was introduced in the area, locals had only two options for broadband service: 10 Mbps DSL or the legacy fixed wireless technology from Bluespan that also maxed out around 10 Mbps and struggled to cover all of the homes on their network reliably. Bluespan now offers plans up to 500 Mbps in Flagstaff and no longer faces capacity limitations on densely populated networks.

Bluespan uses a hybrid approach to achieve these improved service plans. Throughout their Arizona networks, they are deploying fiber to 15 newly G1-equipped towers and using Tarana to bring broadband from the tower to the home at scale.

The service provider has developed a similar deployment in Sonoita, Arizona, a famous wine region lacking viable options for reliable, high-speed internet. Nestled beyond a mountain pass in a rural area, Sonoita was nearly impossible to serve with fiber or cable alone.

Instead, they deployed fiber to one Tarana-backed tower overlooking the greater Sonoita and Elgin communities and now offer them 500+ Mbps internet service. With additional plans to ramp G1 deployments in their Washington service footprint, Bluespan targets a minimum of 30 Tarana towers across two states within the next six months.

“Marrying fiber and Tarana’s capabilities have made us well-poised to do edge-out expansion in underserved areas,” said Scott Stace, CEO of Bluespan. “This combination allows us to pass more homes than anything else. It really is the only cost-effective option.”