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CHICAGO--At Supercomm this week, broadband wireless equipment manufacturer Alvarion announced it will extend its BreezeMAX product line to encompass the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 to 2.7 GHz frequency bands, both bands that are expected to be put to wide use in the North American market. The company said yesterday that its products will be available for both bands by early 2006.

“We’re bringing the full capabilities of our BreezeMAX 3500, which we’ve been deploying for over a year and is already in use with 80 operators in 30 countries, to the U.S. market,” said Carlton O’Neal, vice president of marketing at Alvarion. “This will really be the first time U.S. carriers can take a WiMAX product and deploy it in licensed bands for U.S. customers.”

O’Neal referenced an announcement from BellSouth this week that the carrier plans to begin a broadband wireless pilot test in August using pre-WiMAX equipment from Navini as evidence that U.S. carriers are ready to expand their broadband technology horizons and add wireless to their various delivery platforms. BellSouth said it will deploy pre-WiMAX in Athens, Ga., and extend service to several Florida cities later in the year.

“It’s clear they’re under pressure to bring broadband services to their subscriber base in ways other than just DSL and fiber and other technologies,” O’Neal said. “The demand is already creeping up.”

2.3 GHz is known as the WCS spectrum band in the U.S., and the 2.5 to 2.7 GHz range--formerly called the MMDS spectrum--is known as BRS.