Federated Wireless CEO Iyad Tarazi (pictured) offered a predictably bullish outlook on its growth prospects as he talked to Mobile World Live about a shift in approach involving narrowing the scope of its private network services.

Tarazi said it previously targeted verticals including healthcare, retail and sports venues, but had since pulled back from some to target companies desirous of owning and managing their own private networks using shared spectrum.

“What we’ve also learned is that this is not a cookie-cutter product,” he said. “It wasn’t a retrenchment from the market. It was just refocusing our energy.”

Federated Wireless is now focused on integrating its products and services into more greenfield 5G environments where companies have not made deep investments in infrastructure or devices.

He noted swapping devices in a hospital takes a lot of time due to health and security concerns.

Tarazi addressed reports of lay-offs earlier this year by noting the company remained at its usual number of around 80 staff.

Focus
The company now operates across three primary areas.

One is a US Department of Defence initiative to build a 5G network for automation and inventory management at a Marine Corps base, a project Tarazi said is several months away from getting fully certified.

The second focus is education, which includes a partnership with California Polytechnic State University to provide a private network to T-Mobile US customers.

Tarazi explained Federated Wireless is also using private networks to bridge the digital divide across school districts, cities and suburbs.

It also struck private 4G and 5G deals with US technology service provider World Wide Technology, along with VMware.

“We pulled back from a lot of other areas to focus our energy on where we see a lot of traction,” Tarazi said.

Federated Wireless is a certified Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum manager which also has its own 5G platform.

Tarazi stated it has deployed close to 400,000 radios on CBRS spectrum.