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Intel to Fund WiMAX Wireless Broadband Service in UK

3:05 am on April 5, 2006 | Category: Business, WiMAX, Wireless Technology

Intel has announced plans to launch a WiMAX wireless broadband service in the UK market, through a joint venture with British ISP, Pipex Communications.

The chipmaker will invest $25 million to fund the joint venture, which will be called Pipex Wireless. Pipex is also contributing an undisclosed amount of money to the venture, along with its 3.6GHz wireless license. Although having such a license isnâ€™t absolutely for a WiMAX service, it eliminates interference and other problems commonly associated with unlicensed spectrum.

Intelâ€™s participation in this deal is being seen as part of a plan to use its wealth and influence to promote the WiMAX standard, and ultimately make it as popular as its shorter-range counterpart, Wi-Fi.

â€œPipex Wireless will compete in this new market by targeting customers who need more than just fixed broadband to home or office,â€ said Bill Kilmer, who is a managing director at IntelCapital, and will sit on the board of Pipex Wireless.

The new WiMAX offering is expected to be rolled out sometime in 2007, starting with the cities of London and Manchester.

By the time the service launches, Intel plans to launch a number of WiMAX hardware products, including PC cards and chips for laptops. The company is also working on a technology that would integrate both Wi-Fi and WiMAX into a single chip.

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