BT has opened talks with makers of Wi-Max equipment, raising the prospect that Britain’s leading broadband supplier will make an aggressive move into the nascent wireless broadband technology. The company has issued a formal “request for information” (RFI) to the technology firms, including Alvarion.

Analysts believe that the group, which is thought to have looked closely at Pipex, the Wi-Max licence-holder that recently went up for sale, could be seeking to use Wi-Max to boost its weak mobile telephony operation.

This year Ofcom will auction off a portion of airwave suited to both 3G mobile phones and to Wi-Max. A decision by BT to enter the auction could pitch it against big mobile players. BT has said previously that “many factors are still to be determined” before it can decide what value the spectrum represents.