Some businesses in Texas will have more opportunities to sign up with WiMAX services as Airband Communications, Inc. announced that it will be expanding its reach and service by 50 percent in the Houston area. This expansion includes upgrading existing infrastructure and positioning new base stations around Northwest Freeway, Arena Towers, West Chase and Sugarland. Each base station covers a radius of three to five miles, thus allowing Airband to service more businesses in those areas. The company has been providing WiMAX services for Houston since 2001.

But this may very well not be the last time Airband comes up in WiMAX news. According to an article posted in Centre Daily, Airband is upgrading its Houston market as part of a larger project. With clients already located in Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, LA, Philadelphia,Phoneix and elsewhere, Airband is developing a strategy to provide services nationwide. As Airband expands its footprint, we may soon hear of businesses in other major cities gaining WiMAX as an option for their data and VoIP services.

In addition to the Montevina platform for notebooks, Intel may also be delivering WiMAX to ultraportables and mobile internet devices through its Menlow platform. InfoWorld reports that Intel is developing WiMAX chips specifically for mobile devices as an optional addition to the platform:

Intel is already developing a WiMax silicon chip codenamed Baxter Peak for mobile devices. Last year, Nokia said it would use Baxter Peak on its WiMax-enabled N-series Internet tablets, expected to ship in 2008... “[The chip] will be an option similar to how Echo Peak is an option for Centrino notebooks based on the Montevina mobile platform,” [according to Kari Aakre, an Intel spokeswoman]

With hopes of WiMAX taking off in 2009, Intel’s move toward including WiMAX chips in both notebooks and mobile devices is an excellent step toward boosting WiMAX adoption rates. Having a big name like Intel behind WiMAX and actively integrating supportive hardware will make providers that much more inclined to invest in WiMAX and customers that much more likely to subscribe to WiMAX services. Intel’s tactic also encourages a form of brand recognition in the sense that it gets the name “WiMAX” out to the public–thus building awareness about the technology and its capabilities.

Intel’s “Baxter Peak” and other WiMAX-enabled devices are scheduled for shipment early this year.