Proxim successfully deployed its multi-point wireless solutions for video surveillance along the tracks of the Tenerife Tram for increased passenger safety.
Europe
The Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes, an independent French agency that is in charge of regulating telecommunications in France (comparable to the FCC in the US) has launched auctions today for frequencies to build 4G mobile telephone networks with minimum bids set at €2.5 billion.
Ireland may be in the throes of a major financial crisis, but even with the economy teetering on the verge of collapse there’s still room for a business success story here and there. While Clearwire struggles to make a dent with its WiMax network in the U.S., a home-grown Irish company Imagine is having a splendid go of it in the capital city of their homeland and beyond.
By offering their mobile broadband and phone service at a rate that’s fifty percent cheaper than their competitors, Imagine is pulling in customers at a rate of 5,000 per month. While that may seem like small potatoes to many, Ireland isn’t exactly China in the population department. Industry experts think the cheaper plans and faster broadband capabilities could result in the migration of 50,000 customers from Eircom, one of the nation’s leading service providers, in the coming year. Many consumers stand to save as much as EUR400 per year, which during this period of recession is no small change.
Imagine has, in effect, turned Dublin into an Internet hotspot with it’s mobile broadband. The city is ahead of other prominent European capitals in terms of wireless connectivity, leaving places like Berlin, Paris, and London lagging behind. Their service isn’t just for big city folk.It extends far into the countryside to the far corners of Wexford, Dundalk, and Killarney. Imagine has also focused on extending the 4G network to places traditionally devoid of signal, so called black-spots like Blackrock and Killester. While many well-to-do nations and providers spend money building out LTE networks, WiMax is fast proving a cost effective solution to high-speed internet in places where dollars and sense are at a premium.… Read the rest
The luxury of blazing fast Internet that WiMax is supposed to afford customers doesn’t often (if ever) manifest itself at its ITU-accepted 4G rate of 100mbps. But even if the advertised technology isn’t actually capable of streaming at such great heights, it still presents an improvement over many-a-past network.Though there have been many disappointing speed issues in regards to current WiMax deployments, the good news is that there’s always room to make things better.
Bulgarian WiMax service provider, Max Telecom, is upping their game for their broadband customers in the Balkan nation by doubling the transfer rate to 8mbps. The boost in service is being made possible by a EUR 15 million equipment upgrade from Samsung. Those speeds were previously only available within Yambol and Karzhali provinces, but will now extend network coverage 65% of the population.
A successful launch of the upgrade could bring an even more robust transfer rate, as Samsung could offer Max Telecom equipment capable of reaching speeds of 32mbps. For now, Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia has access to the 8mbps upgrade before it branches out to various other locations in three weeks time. All in all, 8mpbs isn’t too shabby. WiMax networks in more developed countries like the U.S. via Clearwire are topping out at 10mpbs. If Max Telecom’s networks can consistently stream as advertised, they’re customers are getting a pretty sweet deal– or maybe the others are just getting a raw one.
Rural communities can look forward to joining the burgeoning trend toward WiMAX internet access, as fiber optics infrastructure specialist company, the i3 Group, plans to test a new 4G rural broadband network in Wales.
The broadband solution, “Fibrezone”, is to be given a trial run on the Isle of Anglesey, in North Wales; "Finding a solution to rural connectivity is a real challenge for the industry and i3 Group's solution has been under development for some time,” announced the company’s CEO, Elfed Thomas. "We have now reached the stage where we are ready to trial the technology as the availability of WiMAX 4G spectrum has only recently become available. The infrastructure will be deployed using the Group's low cost methodologies which have allowed us to develop a rural model that will be commercially viable with some support from the public purse.” Fibrezone combines fiber optic infrastructure with WiMAX 4G spectrum to bring data speeds as high as 10 Mbs/s to communities that previously had little or no broadband access, areas also known as “not spots”.
i3 Group purchased a 4G radio spectrum license back in July; they plan to run fiber optic cables through the sewers to a central hub, and from there bring it to users via 4G. The trial period is approximated to last two months, and anticipated to begin within six weeks, connecting 300 homes in Bryngwran, Llanfair-yn-Neubwell, and Aberffraw, and preceding a mass distribution to 33,000 residents in Angelsey. The entire process will likely spread over a period of six months.… Read the rest
Using conventional wisdom and keen powers of observation, your average enlightened follower of wireless trends may have long ago declared LTE the “royal highness” of 4G network technology standards on the European continent; But even with the region’s more developed nations opting for Long Term Evolution as their chief 4G format, Samsung isn’t quite ready to take part in that coronation ceremony.
The Korean mega-conglomerate is still holding strong to the belief that there’s plenty more fruit to be harvested from the WiMax technology tree. That fruit may not be plucked in wealthier countries like Sweden, Great Britain, and Germany; Samsung sees their fortunes rising where the sun does–in the east. Having struck two deals to provide 802.16e infrastructure for the rollouts of two national WiMax networks in Bulgaria and the Ukraine, they may be laying the foundation for even further success spreading and improving WiMax in the region for countries looking for a more cost-effective solution to improving their speed of their net access.
The devices at the center of these respective rollouts are Samsung’s U-RAS Smart CP base stations, which Ukraine’s Intellicom LLC will deploy to their top 4 markets by June 2011, hopefully making WiMax readily available to 20 million households by 2013. They’re not alone in trying to tackle that market though, as rival Ukraine High Technologies will be boxing them out for position for customers on a national level.
Bulgarian service provider, Max Telecom, will utilize the Smart base stations in an effort to upgrade its existing WiMax networks to best competing operators TransTelecom and Nexcom Bulgaria LLC. As a chief selling point of the new network Max will be boasting of their “high-quality VoIP” services that they hope will be available to the nation’s population of 7.6 million by 2012. Bulgaria’s WiMax users are expected to more than triple by 2015.
Though an investment for the further development of WiMax technology in a region where the 4G standard isn’t exactly “killing it” may seem risky for Ukrainian and Bulgarian providers alike; the U-RAS Smart CP Base Stations takes into account the potential shift of preference by supporting “a migration to WiMax 2 (802.16m) and TD-LTE, the alternative technology that can operate on the same spectrum as WiMax.” It’s better to be safe than sorry.… Read the rest
Mandarin WiMAX Sicily will bring the 4G technology all areas of Modica, including the remote rural areas. It will provide broadband Internet to places that were unable to connect because of land line restrictions.
Local governments in Sicily are attempting a new approach by offering wireless technologies to meet the needs of households and businesses that need a super fast wireless Internet connection in places where DSL services aren’t being met by the local telecom operators.
Mandarin WiMAX is a regional telecommunications company. They won spectrum space on the Italian island in the 3.4-3.6GHz frequency. The venture consists of a group of Sicilian businesses, Medianet Communications, Korec, Group Franza and Temix. Mandarin will try to build a transportation network with voice and data services that connect wireless reliability and security, covering the entire Sicily region.… Read the rest
Imagine Wireless will launch the first WiMAX network in Ireland. Imagine teamed with Motorola and Intel to roll out a nationwide high speed wireless network. The project expects to cost EURO100 million to begin.
OECD, a research firm that ranks broadband speeds, showed Ireland at the bottom in broadband speeds across Europe. Imagine Wireless knows that WiMAX will help get Ireland out of the basement of the list.
“This week’s OECD statistics show that Ireland has dropped to 29th position for broadband speeds, after being placed 26th in September 2008,” Imagine Wireless Commercial Director Brian O’Donohoe said, “The new 4G WiMax network is faster and more reliable than 3G, has no expensive line rental charges like DSL and is available at half the cost of older technology providers like Eircom .”
Imagine will offer faster Internet services and cheaper phone rates once the network becomes commercially available. Imagine will be able to provide reasonable rates in Dublin, Wexford, Kildare, Sligo, Louth, Westmeath and Longford counties. WiMAX will be unveiled in an additional 30 new locations per month until the entire island is covered.
It’s interesting to see how long it has taken to roll out WiMAX in a major European country. The launch could change how Ireland gets their internet. Imagine Wireless will offer home modems, along with USB modems for mobile applications from Motorola.
Photo Courtesy of tomfoley via Flickr… Read the rest
Redline Communications will provide fixed WiMAX equipment for Radiocom in Romania. The deal is a multi-million dollar deal that would bring WiMAX to the Eastern European country.
“A vast proportion of the geography in Romania lacks a reliable and affordable option for broadband connectivity,’ Gabriel Grecu, executive director at Radiocom said, “We believe Redline’s WiMAX offering is the best solution for meeting our quality, performance, scalability and reliability requirements. After analysing Redline’s WiMAX offering, and talking to other Redline clients who have deployed similar large networks, we are confident we have a reliable solution that will benefit these deserving communities.”
Redline will supply their RedMAX UX base stations and SUO/SUI CPE. Radiocom will offer a high-capacity fixed WiMAX network that will offer high speed wireless broadband to government offices, schools and businesses in Romania. The service will be deployed to places where wired line cannot go or have shotty Internet coverage.
Photo Courtesy of Chodaboy via Flickr… Read the rest
Cosmoline chooses DragonWave as its backhaul provider for a WiMAX network in Greece. DragonWave’s Horizon Compact and Horizon Quantum will provide native-Ethernet backhaul across 1,000 wireless links.
“The combination of Horizon Compact’s all-outdoor form factor and robustness plus Horizon Quantum’s unequalled capacity and spectral efficiency made this an easy decision to standardize on DragonWave for all of our backhaul needs,” said Dimitris Politopoulos, chief executive officer, Cosmoline. “DragonWave offers a family of best-in-class products that affords us the flexibility to strategically evolve our network, extend our customers new services and achieve sustainable operating efficiencies.”
Cosmoline will include 130,000 customers of traditional leased-line services fixed wireless access. There are already WiMAX networks in Athens and Thessaloniki with complete country coverage planned for the next few years.… Read the rest
