A UK start-up is building what it hopes will be the
country's first network based on this emerging high-speed broadband
wireless technology.
Telabria has begun construction of a WiMax network in southern
England, with testing to begin in January and commercial service
slated for mid-2005, the company announced this week at the WiMax
Forum in Boston.
With that timetable, the company aims to be the first in the UK
to offer commercial WiMax service and among the frontrunners in
Europe.
Because of the initial high cost of WiMax, Telabria plans to use
the new wide-area wireless technology for its own backbone and for
enterprise customers, but will connect consumers and small business
with another, lower-cost technology, said Telabria founder and
chief executive officer Jim Baker.
WiMax technology, based on the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers' 802.16 standard, can extend broadband
wireless over longer distances and at higher speeds than existing
Wi-Fi systems. Its access range is up to around 48km, compared with
Wi-Fi's 90m. It supports data transmission speeds up to 70mbps,
compared with the popular 802.11b Wi-Fi standard's 11mbps or
802.11a's 54mbps.
The WiMax Forum, established in 2001 by a number of industry
heavyweights, has been working on standards certification and
interoperability testing. The first generation WiMax systems, based
on the 802.16-2004 standard, could be certified by the middle of
next year, according to Baker.
Many experts expect WiMax service to be deployed in rural areas,
where high-speed cable infrastructure is either poor or
non-existent. Some also see opportunities to use the technology for
backhauling traffic between Wi-Fi hot spots, as well as for
creating large wide-area hot spots.
Telabria has agreed to use 802.16-compliant technology from
Redline Communications Redline's AN-100 system, operating initially
in the 3.5GHz band, supports both point-to-point and
point-to-multipoint links. The company is a member of the WiMax
Forum and expects full certification for its system by the middle
of next year, according to Baker.
"We don't want to wait with our trial until this product has
WiMax Forum certification, but we will wait for certification
before we launch our service commercially," Baker said.
Because Baker expects WiMax customer premises equipment to be
too expensive for residential users and small and medium-sized
businesses initially, he has decided to use 802.11-based systems
from SkyPilot Network with additional proprietary
quality-of-service and security features, he said.
Telabria will sell the proprietary systems for $349 (£188) per
unit to residential and SME customers. "That is much more
affordable than the $1,000 that we expect WiMax systems to cost
initially," he said.
Service to residential users and SMEs will cost below the £20 a
month for no less than 1mbps transmission speeds, a price in line
with average ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) in the UK,
according to Baker. Service will also be available at speeds up to
3mbps for an additional price.
Enterprise customers will be offered end-to-end WiMax links with
committed rates.
From the start, Telabria plans to offer VoIP service, according
to Baker.
WiMax trial networks are beginning to sprout up around Europe.
The Norwegian city of Skelleftea, for example, is currently
conducting a test. Irish Broadband Internet Services is also
conducting a trial in Dublin.
John Blau writes for IDG News Service