Wimax Summary Update

August 2007

Here's a couple of updates from Milton Keynes Council:

There's no web site for connectmk.com as yet, although a quick WhoIs reveals that things are being organised.

Space Time Coding is a multiple aerial technology. This should not be confused with:

“Eddies,” said Ford, “in the space-time continuum.”
“Ah,” nodded Arthur, “is he? Is he?”

From Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

Wimax Summary Update

April 2007

From Update on Pipex Wireless

Pipex Wireless built its first WiMAX base station in Milton Keynes in December 2006 and now has four live operational sites. The Milton Keynes trial was the first in the UK and has provided valuable technical and operational experience applicable to the wider UK roll-out. The network demonstrated end-to-end service provision from the IP core in London to the radio access network in Milton Keynes using both indoor and outdoor subscriber terminals. Additional software upgrades to the base station and subscriber terminals have increased both coverage and capacity and enabled higher loading of the network. Pipex Wireless expects over 100 trial customers to be connected by the end of April, rising to 500 in total. Services being trialled include both business and residential offerings with speeds from 2Mbps up to 8Mbps being delivered.

Warwick is the second trial being built by Pipex Wireless in conjunction with Intel Solutions Services, National Grid Wireless and Warwick District Council. Three base stations have been built and the trial will launch on schedule with the Council as lead trial customer in early May. Initial products being provided are fixed line replacement, Council home worker connectivity and a WiMAX/Wi-Fi hotzone.

From Pipex Communications plc - Results for the year ended 31 December 2006

"Joint venture with Intel in April 2006 to exploit Pipex Wireless’ WiMAX spectrum licence

"Agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks to co-operate on WiMAX infrastructure and service development to be announced in April 2007

"Second WiMAX trial being implemented in Warwick in conjunction with National Grid Wireless

“Pipex Wireless has made good progress with our WiMAX offering. Technical trials in Stratford-upon-Avon performed well and the first WiMAX base station deployment in Milton Keynes in December has been successful. Following further trials being conducted in Warwick, we look forward to the first full-scale roll-out of these services in Manchester in the fourth quarter. These strong results and the number of opportunities available to us going forward make me confident about future growth.

"Also in 2006, we embarked on the commercial exploitation of our wireless spectrum licence, in our joint venture with Intel, successfully trialling WiMAX based services in Stratford-upon-Avon."

"At the end of March 2006 we announced a joint venture with Intel to form Pipex Wireless. The aim of the joint venture is to exploit its wireless spectrum licence in the 3.6 – 4.2 GHz band by providing WiMAX based services through a UK city roll-out. Pipex Wireless owns a perpetual, nationwide licence in the UK. Technical trials have been conducted in Stratford-upon-Avon from which we believe we will be able to deliver data speeds of up to 8 Mbs, synchronously. WiMAX has non-line of sight scalable coverage of up to 5 km, similar to cellular networks, which compares to around only 50m for WiFi hotspots. The plan is to roll-out to 50 UK towns and cities by 2009, starting in Manchester later this year.

"Pipex Wireless continues to seek out valuable partners in the roll-out of its services, and to this end announced in April 2007 an agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks to co-operate on WiMAX infrastructure and service development to expand the availability of commercial WiMAX services in the UK.

"On 12th January 2007, in accordance with the Shareholder Agreement, Intel Capital (Cayman) Corporation contributed an additional £10.2 million, and Pipex Communications plc an additional £2.0 million, to the Pipex Wireless joint venture."

Wireless licence is listed under Intangible fixed assets at £4,417,000 in 2005

Links

Testing Wimax broadband links in Stratford-upon-Avon

Doubts raised over Wimax's future

Airspan

Intel Demonstrates Its First Mobile Wimax Baseband Chip WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and 3G (HSDPA).
 

Milton Keynes was chosen because it has a good mix of residential and business customers, has some challenges with its physical broadband infrastructure and because Milton Keynes Council has selected Pipex as a strategic telecommunications partner. The trial is being conducted in close cooperation between Milton Keynes Council, Pipex and its various partners and the Council are endeavouring to maintain a consultative approach on this with the MK community.

Pipex Wireless will be trialling the WiMAX service for the first time and will be evaluating radio performance, range, bandwidth and network operations. The trial will initially consist of five or six base stations and provide partial coverage in the areas where these are sited. Milton Keynes will need several times this network to provide full coverage and Pipex will be evaluating performance during the trial to establish such a design. Pipex is currently undertaking detailed radio planning to establish trial coverage which they hope to be completed this month.

Trial Customers

Pipex Wireless will be looking for trial customers within range of the network. Trial customers will be offered a number of services from 2Mbps and up, depending on location, and will be given a period of free use in return for product feedback, details will be made available once the trial coverage has been established.

If you live in Milton Keynes and are interested in taking part in the trial please register at:

http://www.pipexwireless.net/register-your-interest.php

It could be that you are not covered by the trial area but your registration is still useful to Pipex Wireless as they design wider coverage.

The trial has been designed and planned in close cooperation with Milton Keynes Council, which already has an existing broadband supply relationship with Pipex. Trial base stations will be sited in areas of the town to evaluate WiMAX product propositions to both business and residential customers and to provide coverage where DSL broadband provision is currently limited or unavailable. The trial will commence in December 2006 and continue for six months, and if successful, will be extended to provide wider coverage across Milton Keynes.

Pipex Wireless will initially deploy five Airspan HiperMAX-Micro base stations and provide services using indoor and outdoor subscriber terminals, both with integrated WiFi available. Working with Milton Keynes Council, Pipex Wireless will initially offer the trial to approximately 500 users, providing connection speeds of between 2Mbps and 10Mbps. Currently, due to the telecoms infrastructure in Milton Keynes, many residents there either have a limited broadband service or are unable to get broadband Internet connections. The trial service offers faster connection speeds and the ability to send, as well as receive, high volumes of data. Further details of the service proposition will be provided in a release closer to the launch date.

"WiMAX is an exciting opportunity for Pipex and we're delighted that we are now able to trial the technology in a customer environment," said Mike Read, CEO of Pipex. "This will be the first such trial in the UK and positions Pipex Wireless as the lead WiMAX provider in the market."

Milton Keynes Council Head of IT and e-Government, Steven Jewell added, "We are pleased to have attracted Pipex Wireless to trial WiMAX in Milton Keynes. This reflects our continuing commitment to the digital economy in our town and to improving broadband provision."

Jacqueline Hey, Managing Director of Ericsson's North West Europe Market Unit said, "We are delighted that our company has been selected to engineer the Milton Keynes WiMAX network with Pipex Wireless. Ericsson has extensive global experience of wireless deployment using multiple vendor and technology platforms and our recent success in outsourcing makes us an ideal operating partner as Pipex Wireless builds its own capabilities."

Airspan's Marketing and Product Vice President, Paul Senior, commented, "It's early days for WiMAX in the UK, but we're excited with the progress so far. The combination of range and throughput demonstrated at the Stratford-upon-Avon trial site has helped Pipex Wireless's readiness for customer operations. The deployment of the future proof HiperMAX-Micro platform with integrated WiMAX/WiFi in Milton Keynes demonstrates our continuing commitment to help Pipex develop a robust WiMAX deployment model."

Pipex Wireless was created in April 2006 by Pipex and Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's venture arm, to develop unique fixed and portable broadband wireless services for consumers and business customers in the UK. The company intends to announce roll out of new services in several major metro areas in 2007.