IMAGINE Communications, which this week launched a new wireless broadband service based on WiMax technology, is asking communities who wish to avail of the service to contact it.
Pricing for the service, which will initially offer speeds of up to 7MBits/sec – more than twice the speeds available on most domestic services – and which is being backed by a €100 million investment, will not be announced until next week but Imagine chief executive Seán Bolger is promising it will be 50 per cent cheaper than comparable Eircom products.
Mr Bolger told The Irish Times that the service would be available to 90 per cent of the population by the end of 2012. “That’s an estimate of the number of base stations we can deploy but we can economically afford to go into much smaller areas than can be served by [fixed line] DSL,” said Mr Bolger. As a result, he said, the 10 per cent of the State not covered would not be the least populated rural areas. Each WiMax base station can provide coverage in an 8km radius in a rural area.
He conceded that the image of wireless has been hampered by services that have not delivered the promised speeds, particularly mobile broadband.
“If mobile broadband services are so good why are Vodafone now selling a fixed-line service that has a slower advertised speed than its mobile broadband?” he asked.
He said that unlike mobile broadband, WiMax is designed to be a replacement to fixed-line.
Imagine also intends to allow other operators wholesale its service, although he said it had not begun negotiations with anyone.
The Irish launch is being supported by chip maker Intel and US telecoms equipment maker Motorola, which is supplying Imagine with infrastructure.
Although WiMax, which is sometimes referred to as fourth generation or “4G” wireless technology, was first proposed in 2001, adoption of the technology has been relatively slow.
Kevin Jones, global head of WiMax at Intel, admitted that the “challenging macro-economic environment” had delayed roll-outs but that WiMax delivers compelling value.
He cited one Russian operator who is adding 1,200 subscribers a day and now has more than 200,000.
Just as WiFi took off after Intel’s Centrino initiative in 2003 saw the necessary communications chips included in all new laptops using its technology, Intel will include WiMax support as standard from next year.
WiMax was initially expected to be popular in developing countries where there wasn’t good wired infrastructure but Mr Jones said in “2009 we’ve seen dramatic take-up in developed markets”, citing Japan as a good example.
Motorola has also seen an uptake of WiMax in the last 12 months, according to Steve McCaffrey, a European vice president with the communications company.
“The market and standards can happen, the infrastructure can happen but until the eco-system of devices and the right cost points are in place consumers won’t buy,” said Mr McCaffrey.
He added that Motorola is working with other device makers to ensure their products can work with its base stations.
