Vivid Wireless has lauched a WiMAX network in Perth, Australia, using Huawei gear, reports Dailywireless reader Grant Bartlett. Currently coverage is limited to Perth, but is likely to expand to other cities, reports Bartlett.
Vivid Wireless has 90 to 98MHz spectrum in the 3.2GHz band at its disposal in metropolitan areas, and the company expects the network to offer average download speeds of 4Mbps, while peaks in excess of 20Mbps will be possible. The new company has set aside AUD50 million (USD41.9 million) for the project and will also use the 2.3 GHz spectrum.
Here are some early first impressions. Seven Network is the corporate parent of ‘Vivid Wireless‘ which is also using a legacy Navini Network in Sydney and Melbourne run by Unwired (which was bought out by SEV in 2008). Australian IT explains the relation between Unwired and Seven.
Vivid Wireless will use DragonWave’s Horizon Compact for backhaul connectivity of up to 200 Mbps initially. DragonWave’s Horizon Compact backhaul integrates modem and radio in a single unit and will connect about 150 wireless base stations around Perth. Unwired’s network covers most of Sydney and 35% of Melbourne and currently consists of more than 90 base stations. The company says it will continue to upgrade existing sites and add new ones as its customer base grows.
The Australian Government has pledged to deliver 100Mbits/sec broadband to 90% of its population by 2017, despite struggling to convince the industry of the benefits. Australia’s $30 billion broadband stimulus package is actually bigger than the non-technology stimuli ($29.3 billon) that Australia has announced so far.
The Australian Broadband Plan envisions a newly formed company laying 100mbps fiber optic cable to 90 percent of homes and schools, and getting 12 Mbps wireless access to those who live in rural and remote Australia. The build-out will employ at least 25,000 workers a year and up to 37,000 at its peak.
At the recent controversial Broadband Future Forum run by the Federal Government in Sydney, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it was time to ‘stop the rot’ infecting Australia’s history of broadband. The forum was informed about 18 different national broadband plans created to solve the problem, under the previous Liberal government’s administration, that had all failed to come to fruition over the previous 12 years.
You can compare wireless broadband plans at comparebroadband.com.au.
In other news, Vmax Telecom, a WiMax network operator in Taipei, has put mobile Internet devices (MIDs) inside 1000 taxi cabs from the M-Taxi company. Alvarion will provide VMAX Telecom with its BreezeMAX 2500 base station, as part of the company’s 4Motion solution.
Related Dailywireless stories include; WiMAX SmartGrid Coming to 700K Australians, BigAir in Australia, UK and AU Develop National Broadband Plans and Perth WiMAX: Business or Pleasure?
