Posted: 13th Jan, 2006 By: MarkJ
The Times newspaper has reported that UK ISP Pipex is expected to announce the commencement date for consumer trials of
WiMAX (broadband wireless) technology today. The trial itself will take place in Stratford-upon-Avon:
Industry sources say that it could be available to UK consumers as early as next year making the UK one of the first countries to offer the new service on a national level.
The roll-out of the service, which Pipex is expected to offer in partnership with a big telecoms company, will threaten the mobile operators such as O2 and Vodafone who have already begun work on the next generation of internet access for mobile phones 3.5G.
Phones with WiMax chips will be able to bypass the phone networks, potentially threatening their revenues.Presently only Pipex and PCCW hold licenses for a 'national' scale
WiMAX network, although BT may follow suit later. Typically the greatest reason this whole process takes so long has a lot to do with unfinished standards.