Access Providers plans Sydney WiMAX network

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 01 December 2005 08:48

Business IT - Networking

ASX-listed operator of a Melbourne broadband wireless network, Access Providers, has announced plans to rollout a WIMAX network in Sydney early in 2006.

The company says it expects to be connecting customers by June and that it believes its network will be the first to be built in Australia based on the fixed WiMax standard 802.16 2004.

CEO Keith Ondarchie said: "We have already identified the first group of business customers and are now working through the purchasing arrangements with suppliers We are convinced the WiMax standard will create many opportunities over the next few years. This new standard will allow service providers to package product offerings that need to be connected to a WiMAX network."

Access Providers says it will install 11 base stations in the Sydney metropolitan region an that the capital required to build the new network will be funded by internal cash reserve

Ondarchie claimed that the company was also finalising exclusive roof top licences in Sydney and said that this would "[prevent] others from accessing our 5.8GHz frequency."

ITWire was unable to confirm the extent of Access Providers' "exclusive" rooftop licensing at press time but for it to talk of the spectrum it intends to use as "our 5.8GHz frequency" is nonsense. The band is covered by a class licence and is available for any one to use;  it being incumbent upon users to seek to avoid interfering with each other.

Access Providers currently serves customers in Sydney through a relationship with Sydney broadband wireless network operator, BigAir. Ondarchie, addressing the company's AGM yesterday, alluded to this saying: "In February, we entered a strategic network sharing agreement with BigAir in Sydney. This partnership helped fast track our growth by providing a cost-effective entry into the Sydney market, as well as helping to boost our industry position by enabling us to offer services in Australia's four major business markets.

No comment was made on the future of this relationship post the rollout of Access Providers' Sydney WiMAX network.