By: MarkJ - 14 May, 2007 (9:19 AM)
BT is preparing to release its first quarter results this week, with various newspaper reports suggesting that the operator’s broadband ISP wing stands to re-gain the top (largest) spot from '
Virgin Media'.
Elsewhere The Times carries word that the operator may also be preparing for an aggressive move into the broadband wireless WiMax market:
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.
BT may well use WiMax to improve its mobile division, yet the technology could also be employed as a solution for "last-mile" residents, which represent the tiny portion of England left without broadband cover.
Equally some have also speculated that WiMax could even provide an effective “next-gen” alternative to FTTx (fibre) broadband technology, although we have our doubts about that.
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