When the tech bubble burst in 2000-01, the LMDS startups perished. Technology advances, however, could make the high-frequency airwaves prime candidates for 5G.

“In the 1990s, with LMDS, mobile data wasn’t mature, and neither was the Internet, and neither was the electronics industry — it couldn’t make low cost, mmWave devices,” said Ted Rappaport, founding director of NYU Wireless, New York University’s research center on millimeter-wave technologies.

“Wi-Fi was really brand new then, and broadband backhaul was not even built out. LMDS was originally conceived to be like fiber, to serve as backhaul (long-distance), or point-to-multipoint, and was not for mobile services. Fast forward to today, backhaul is in place to accommodate demand, and electronics at mmWave frequencies are being mass-produced in cars. Demand for data is increasing more than 50% a year, and the only way to continue to supply capacity to users is to move up to (millimeter wave).”
Read the full article: investors.com