MVS Comunicaciones Selects Aperto Networks for Nationwide Deployment of Broadband Wireless Access in Mexico

Initial deployment in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey to be followed by 6 additional metros by end of 2004  

Mexico City, Mexico, and Milpitas, Calif., (September 29, 2003) – MVS Comunicaciones, a leading radio/television programming and carrier services company in Mexico and Latin America, and Aperto Networks, a leading provider of new generation scalable broadband wireless access systems, announced today that MVS has selected Aperto’s PacketWave® systems to deliver business-grade high speed wireless access in the three largest urban areas of Mexico and beyond.  

MVS will use Aperto’s systems to deliver broadband wireless access with guaranteed Quality of Service to businesses in the greater metro areas of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey through local and regional operators this year, and will market these services to six additional cities by the end of 2004. MVS holds MMDS (2.5 - 2.686 GHz) frequency licenses capable of addressing 95% of Mexico’s businesses.  

"Mexico City is the second-largest metro area in the world, but with 20 million inhabitants and thousands of demanding businesses in just 1,800 square kilometers and heavy vegetation throughout the urban area, it has the highest density of population and greatest environmental challenges of any wireless market in the world," declared Ernesto Vargas, President of MVS Television.  

"After rigorous tests with multiple suppliers and platforms, we selected Aperto’s powerful PacketWave systems due to their proven superiority in the areas we consider critical to our markets -guaranteed QoS for high-speed business services, highly-reliable performance for backhaul applications, complementary operation with our existing wireless network, and capital efficiency. PacketWave delivered on these challenges and will serve us to fortify the position of leadership that MVS has forged through three decades offering Mexico the best choices in information, culture, commerce and entertainment," Vargas concluded.  

Reza Ahy, CEO and founder of Aperto Networks, stated, " We are pleased to have been selected by MVS for its nationwide market expansion of broadband wireless access. As a market-leading service provider, MVS has already raised the competitive bar in the Mexican market with its innovative carrier of carriers model and its substantial licensed frequency holdings. We look forward to supporting MVS’ carrier-class deployment and to helping the company dramatically expand broadband availability to businesses throughout Mexico."  

"We had put MVS Communicaciones on our recent ’Carrier Contract to Watch’ list, waiting to see who would win this substantial award," described Andy Fuertes, Senior Analyst with Visant Strategies. "MVS is now complementing its consumer wireless access play with a very aggressive push for business-grade service delivery and scalable backhaul of all wireless traffic. Aperto is a solid choice for this new wave of deployments, with its high-performance MAC, unique IP network features and strong QoS capability."  

Aperto Networks’ IP-featured base stations and subscriber units enable both licensed and unlicensed frequency broadband wireless access for business-grade users. Providers use PacketWave systems to deliver wireless E1 and Fractional E1 speeds, wireless VPNs and VLANs, disaster recovery and Hot Spot backhaul, as well as VoIP and streaming media. MVS leverages the flexibility of PacketWave to serve as its broadband multiservice access platform for demanding users and as its wireless backhaul infrastructure. Through 2004, MVS will deploy broadband wireless access via Aperto Networks systems to Puebla, Veracruz, Mexicali, Tijuana, León and Toluca, in addition to the above-mentioned cities.  

About MVS Comunicaciones

MVS Comunicaciones, a division of MVS Television and MVS Radio, is a telecommunications service provider operating over diverse transmission media (copper, fiber, wireless), as well as the producer and distributor of news content and entertainment. Founded in 1967 as a private family company by Mr. Joaquín Vargas Gómez, MVS launched the first FM radio station in Mexico, and since then has experienced exponential growth and diversification. Today, MVS remains under the ownership of the Vargas family. With its proven leadership in radio and television broadcasting and Internet services, MVS sees its future success in utilizing digital technology and increasing its expansion in the Latin American market and in the United States. For more information, contact: José Antonio Abad García, CEO MVS Net, S.A. de C.V., México DF, México, 55 50 05 90, [email protected] or visit www.mvs.com.  

About Aperto Networks

Aperto Networks is a leading provider of multiservice broadband wireless access systems for global markets. The company was founded to provide a breakthrough solution to one of today’s critical network bottlenecks - last-mile broadband access. The PacketWave® system provides a family of base stations, subscriber units, and associated radios and antennas in 2.5, 3.5 and 5 GHz frequency bands for global point-to-point and point-to-multipoint deployments. Its scalable systems and patent-pending technologies support new wireless builds and complement existing wireline broadband access technology. Aperto systems have been deployed by service providers in 25 countries, meeting their needs for ease of installation, IP-rich network functionality and cost effectiveness, while enabling rapid provisioning and interference resilient operation in dense urban to suburban locations. The company is a founder and leading contributor to IEEE 802.16a, a contributor to ETSI-HiperMAN standards, and a board member of the WiMAX Forum. For more information on Aperto Networks, go to www.apertonet.com.