Pipex, Intel & Airspan gear up to WiMAX UK cities

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 19 August 2006 05:22

Business IT - Networking

A joint venture between UK telco, Pipex, and Intel says trials of Airspan WiMAX gear have proved successful and it is gearing up to provide WiMAX networks in several UK cities, starting with Milton Keynes.
If the claimed results of the trial are true, they will give the nascent WiMAX technology, already buoyed by the recent announcement from Sprint Nextel, a further boost.

In a statement Pipex Wireless said performance in the trial, in Stratford Upon-Avon, had exceeded expectations. "Performance has been evaluated using both indoor and outdoor antennae, powered by Intel Rosedale chipsets, with the trial showing that WiMAX can deliver near symmetric services in most environments."

Speeds in excess of 2Mbps up and down have been achieved indoors at a range of 1.2km from the base station with no direct line of sight, Pipex Wireless claimed.

Drive tests using the indoor antenna in a vehicle at various distances from the base station have shown symmetric speeds of 5Mbps. Speeds of 10Mbps down and 9Mbps up have been achieved to external antennas at the test house at 1.2km from the base station. Longer range tests with external antennas have achieved 6Mbps down and 4Mbps up at a range of 6km from the base station.

Airspan's CTO, Alastair Westgarth, said the trial had given his company "the opportunity to prove that our software defined radio base station and indoor, self install CPE fit the needs of a solid WiMAX service provider such as Pipex. The combination of range and throughput demonstrated by the achievements to date are very encouraging and provide an added baseline for our continuing product development of this platform."

Pipex Wireless was created in April 2006 by Pipex and Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's venture arm. Intel Capital invested $US25 million in the new company and Pipex transferred its entire 3.6GHz UK spectrum license to Pipex Wireless. Equity shares were not disclosed.

The company said at the time that it anticipated the roll-out of its network to begin in London and Manchester in 2007, in the top eight population centres by 2008 and to eventually roll out wireless broadband services to the top 50 UK population centres.

A Reuters report, citing "a source close to Pipex" said plans to launch the first service, in Milton Keynes, would be announced in around four weeks.