Airspan Announces 700 MHz WiMAX Product Suite

Meeting High Demand of Bandwidth-Hungry Rural Markets


BOCA RATON, FL--(Marketwire - December 22, 2008) - Airspan Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRN), a leading provider of WiMAX-based broadband wireless access networks, announced today the release of a new 700 MHz WiMAX product suite targeted at rural markets in areas of the United States and around the world.

The new product suite builds on the success of the Company's strong market position in the 700 MHz band, and adds to the broad Airspan WiMAX portfolio, which already offers the widest variety of frequency band coverage.

"700MHz license holders in the USA and internationally have been waiting for a credible WiMAX solution to upgrade their service offering to their customers," said Declan Byrne, Airspan's Chief Marketing Officer. "Airspan delivers a solution to support a strong business case. The combination of excellent signal propagation and robust Airspan equipment will enable operators to offer high speed Internet to a broad population in a wide network coverage area at a very low cost-to-market. We led the market in delivering pre-WiMAX 700MHz equipment and we plan to lead with WiMAX in this frequency as well."

Low-frequency sub-1 GHz bands, such as 700 MHz, have excellent signal propagation characteristics where the radio signal penetrates obstacles such as trees and buildings and travels considerably farther than higher frequency solutions. These qualities translate into cost savings for operators by requiring far less infrastructure per square mile. This solution is especially attractive for areas with low population density or for long-range coverage requirements. This frequency band is broadly available in the United States, and is available to operators in Asia and other key international WiMAX markets.

"We believe that this new product, coupled with our products in the 1.5 and 3.65 GHz frequency bands, provides the perfect 'trifecta' of solutions in support of rural broadband access in the United States," continued Declan Byrne. "U.S. President-Elect Obama has been a strong advocate of extending broadband coverage to every U.S. community and has even been quoted as supporting tax and loan incentives to reach rural regions. We share in Obama's vision and look forward to serving this important market."

Paul Senior, Airspan Chief Technical Officer, added, "The expansion of our WiMAX product range into the 700 MHz band gives new and existing customers access to equipment with enhanced reach and higher system capacity. This enables operators to create highly cost-effective, non-line-of-sight solutions for broadband data and leading edge Voice-over-IP."

For added flexibility, the Airspan equipment is designed to operate in a range of channel sizes, from as small as 1.5MHz to as wide as 10MHz.

About Airspan Networks Inc.

Airspan is a leading WiMAX pure player and the solution-provider of choice for some of the world's largest WiMAX deployments. Developing leading-edge technology for broadband access and IP-telephony, Airspan continues to supply operators around the world with best-of-breed solutions. With direct sales offices throughout Asia, EMEA and the Americas, a worldwide network of resellers and agents, and partnership alliances with major OEMs, Airspan boasts over 100 commercial WiMAX deployments worldwide. www.airspan.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. The words "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "will," "would" and similar expressions or negative variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. Investors and others are therefore cautioned that a variety of factors, including certain risks, may affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The Company is subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and in the Company's 2008 Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. You should read those factors as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this press release. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Contact Information: For Investor Relations and Media Inquiries, contact: Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane Investor Relations Tel. +561 395 4581 Email: clottomane@airspan.com For Media Inquiries, contact: Dori Erann Director Marketing Communications Airspan Networks Inc. Tel. +561.893.8687 Email: derann@airspan.com