Internet provider leaving Honolulu

By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wireless Internet provider HighSpeed Communications is leaving the Hawai'i market and will hand its Honolulu operations to Pacific DirectConnect.

On July 1, Pacific DirectConnect will take over HighSpeed's network of building-top antennas and related equipment, which provides wireless Internet access over licensed bandwidth at speeds above 1 megabyte per second to Honolulu's urban core.

Pacific DirectConnect will also take over HighSpeed's approximately 15 customers, mostly businesses in downtown Honolulu, said John Tapper, vice president for marketing and sales for Pacific DirectConnect.

The deal would increase Pacific DirectConnect's revenues by more than 10 percent, Tapper said. The Honolulu company now has 150 clients for its high-speed Internet services, offered over a mix of DSL, frame-relay and wireless systems. Clients include the Halekulani and Hilton Hawaiian Village hotels.

HighSpeed's licensed wireless bandwidth gives Pacific DirectConnect much greater reach in the market, Tapper said.

"We can now fill holes in our coverage and get to some places we couldn't reach before," he said.

HighSpeed will still own the equipment, and will share a portion of Pacific DirectConnect revenues, Tapper said.

HighSpeed, a company based in Walla Walla, Wash., entered the Hawai'i market in 2000 and predicted a rapid expansion. But the company cut its staff and replaced managers as the economy began to falter this year.

HighSpeed officials could not be reached for comment.