Builder of the world’s most versatile carrier-grade and cost-effective WiMAX base stations and subscriber units, Aperto® Networks, today announced that has its industry-leading line of PacketMAX® base stations has been chosen by a service provider based in Southern California, NextPhase Wireless, for a nationwide WiMAX network in the 3.65 GHz band.

Vice President of Marketing & Alliances for Aperto Networks and WiMAX Forum Board Member, Manish Gupta, stated: "This is the first of many significant wins we expect to announce this year in the 3.65 GHz band in the U.S." He added: "With this lightly-licensed band, as well as the license-exempt 5.8 GHz band which we also support, operators are able to cost-effectively leverage the benefits of our versatile PacketMAX solution and deploy carrier-grade services to enterprise, SMB, and residential markets."

NextPhase will deploy a combination of the 12-sector PacketMAX 5000 macro base stations and single-sector PacketMAX 3000 micro base stations. Including the Los Angeles and San Diego markets, deployment will start in Orange County and then expand to the rest of Southern California. With additional coverage in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, later, the deployment will go national.

PacketMAX, in addition to supporting the 3.65 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands, also supports the 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 4.9 GHz bands. Aperto, as a result, now offers WiMAX solutions for the widest range of licensed and licensed-exempt frequencies in the world.

The PacketMAX family of products delivers the critical elements required to extend wireless broadband services to a wide range of users—ranging from large enterprises, governments and public-sector organizations to multi-tenant buildings and residences—using a single, standards-based platform. The PacketMAX 5000 base station, the company's flagship product, is also the only carrier-grade base station that can support and operate both the IEEE802.16-2004 and IEEE802.16-2005 WiMAX standards simultaneously.