Subject: [NEXTEL-1] BT to roll out pre-standard WiMax commercial network

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 15:59:05 -0400

BT to roll out pre-standard WiMax commercial network

BT this summer will roll out a commercial wireless broadband network in
Northern Ireland based on a kit from Israeli vendor and WiMax developer
Alvarion, Unstrung's Justin Springham reports. BT earlier this year
successfully concluded trials in four rural counties in the U.K. The new
service is based on Alvarion's fixed wireless equipment and will
potentially serve several thousand customers. BT insists that its new
Irish network should not be directly associated with the fixed wireless
WiMax standard -- at least until the standard is officially ratified. BT
says that its solution is proprietary, but that it has "many of the
capabilities you would expect to see from WiMax." The company also says
it will "migrate from our proprietary solution to a standards-based
solution as soon as we can... The two main standards we are focused on
are 802.16d -- the one we will migrate radio broadband to once it is
ratified -- and 802.16e, which has mobility enhancements as a software
upgrade."

=================================================================================

BT Dances Wireless Jig
04.20.04

Incumbent wireline operator BT Group plc (NYSE: BTY - message board;
London:
BTA) is to roll out a commercial wireless broadband network in Northern
Ireland “this summer” using kit from Israeli vendor Alvarion Ltd.
(Nasdaq: ALVR - message board), Unstrung can exclusively reveal.
The move follows the success of four trials earlier this year -- in
Ballingry, Scotland;
Pwllheli, Wales; Porthleven, England; and Campsie in Northern Ireland --
aimed at providing three months of wireless broadband access to 105
users in rural locations throughout the U.K.

“The trials have been very successful, and we will be launching a
service on the back of them this summer,” says Ian Robinson, head of
emerging markets at BT Retail. “We were successful in winning a large
bid for Northern Ireland where the local government is looking for 100
percent broadband coverage. We will be achieving this with a combination
of ADSL and our [wireless] product called radio broadband.”

Robinson states that its “radio broadband” service is based on Alvarion
fixed wireless equipment and will potentially serve “several thousand”
customers. “The rollout is for the whole of Northern Ireland... We will
open up all the exchanges and use radio broadband as an infill [to those
areas not served by fixed ADSL services].  We are very well advanced
with our implementation plans.”

Alvarion could not be reached for comment by press time. The deal marks
the vendor’s second Irish win (see Irish Broadband Loves Alvarion).

Robinson claims that the carrier is eager to extend the rural wireless
service in an effort to reach its stated goal of “100 percent broadband
coverage for every U.K.  community by 2005,” but is dependent on
subsidies from local government agencies.
“We want to take this further and are working on a number of other
regional and local bids where there is a drive from local governments to
deliver broadband in their area... The issue is that it costs more to
serve the most rural places. If you are going to make the price the same
for everyone, how do you cover that gap in cost? The answer at the
moment is that someone else has to pay.”

Despite the recent hype surrounding the emergence of WiMax technology,
BT is keen to stress that its Irish win should not be directly
associated with the fixed wireless standard, at least until it is
officially ratified (see Cisco Late to WiMax Party, WiMax Gets Serious,
and A Conflicted MAN?).

“It isn’t WiMax,” states Robinson. “We have a proprietary solution with
many of the capabilities you would expect to see from WiMax... Clearly
we will migrate from our proprietary solution to a standards-based
solution as soon as we can... The two main standards we are focused on
are 802.16d -- the one we will migrate radio broadband to once it is
ratified -- and 802.16e, which has mobility enhancements as a software
upgrade.”

Supporters of the WiMax spec -- which is intended to provide high-speed
wireless data services over distances of 30 miles or so -- love to talk
up the spec. Intel Corp.  (Nasdaq: INTC - message board) is pushing it
as a cable/DSL replacement, especially in areas that are difficult to
wire up, while others envisage the technology as replacing everything
from wireless LAN to third-generation cellular systems (see Intel's
WiMax Drive and Intel's Got WiMax Headroom).
— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung

http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=51306

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