Australia to get wireless broadband - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Australia to get wireless broadband

By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
June 18, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Australia-to-get-wireless-broadband/0,139023166,120266053,00.htm

A consortium of industry heavyweights will offer wireless broadband in Australia next year, a move which will allow broadband access anywhere and offer a viable alternative to DSL technology.

The consortium was put together by CKW Wireless, a subsidiary of smart antenna technology company ArrayComm, which purchased 5MHz of spectrum in the 3G auctions of 2001. As well as these two companies, the consortium includes OzEmail, Vodafone, service provider Total Communications Infrastructure and Crown Castle, which owns around 1400 wireless communication towers across Australia.

The AU$25 million deal will allow 1Mbps wireless broadband access anywhere near a tower at prices comparable with DSL, according to OzEmail CEO Justin Milne. The service will be deployed in Sydney in November this year, as a market research trial, before going nationwide in 2003.

-This is of particular relevance for people with laptops who like to use them in a variety of situations," Milne told ZDNet Australia. -You can log in from your home, a cafÃ©, your office, Melbourne or wherever, all with the same username and password."

-We're bringing our customer base of 600,000-odd users, some of who will be interested in this," he said. -So we will write to our customers and see if they want to be part of this trial."

He said that some people cannot access broadband even in capital cities because they are too far from the exchange, and this technology will provide a viable alternative.

Vodafone see the technology as being complementary to 3G."We're continuing our focus on wireless solutions, whatever that may be, and attacking the fixed market aggressively," managing director Grahame Maher told ZDNet Australia.