Australia's First Commercial WiMAX Deployment

Written by Adam Gosling

Wednesday, 15 November 2006

Queensland's Buzz Regional Broadband claim to be the first ISP in Australia to successfully deploy a commercial WiMAX solution. Buzz Broadband has spectrum allocation in the 3.4GHz band, that covers Bundaberg, Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Childers. It has been operating a wireless Internet and VoIP service in the area for more than a year using Airspan ASWipLL systems across 22 base stations and backhaul links. Now using Buzz Broadband is again turning to Airspan for a WiMAX system to service the 150,000 people in and around its service area which covers a 30,000 square kilometer region of Queensland. Airspan says that Buzz trialled a number of offerings before settling on Airspan's AS.MAX equipment which will allow it to offer broadband data and VoIP services to its customer base. Airspan says its deployment will support VoIP connectivity at distances exceeding thirty kilometers from the base station sites. VoIP Emergency calls are supported in accordance with customer SLAs and backed up by Airspan's VoiceMAX as part of the broadband access network working in parallel with the quality of service (QOS) requirements of the 802.16 WiMAX Forum standard. It's not entirely clear from the Airspan announcement whether this system is operational or not (we're trying to find out). Here is the company's website for broadband and it also has a site especially for its VoIP service, BuzzPhone. Buzz Broadband is n unlisted public company that took over from regional ISP Queenslander.net and we believe it is part of the DCITA Broadband Connect program. Airspan says the solution is the first WiMAX Forum Certified solution to be used in permanent commercial service in Australia. It is also the first time a WiMAX Forum Certified technology offering commercial services has been operated anywhere in licensed 3.4GHz spectrum in Australia. Initial deployments will consist of MicroMAX Base Stations, Airspan's low-cost high-performance WiMAX Forum Certified base station, which will be linked to Airspan's WiMAX Forum Certified ProST and EasyST subscriber units. The EasyST is the world's first "self installable" WiMAX Forum Certified modem, says teh equipment provider. The EasyST and ProST both incorporate Intel's ProWireless 5116 chip. The Airspan WiMAX equipment deployed by Buzz Broadband can be configured by software to operate on WiMAX Forum channel profiles enabling broadband services to be delivered at speeds exceeding those of ADSL-like services. In the statement, Garth Freeman, Buzz Broadband's CEO, stated: "The Airspan WiMAX equipment being deployed by Buzz Broadband heralds in a new era for Broadband, VoIP and Data services in regional and Rural Australia." It also says that the primary objective of its infrastructure-based approach is to bypass the technical and financial limitations of the incumbent monopoly (Telstra) network. This approach delivers not only previously unimaginable broadband coverage but does so with innovative and highly competitive products the availability of which was either limited nor non-existent in an uncompetitive marketplace. (So there!) Buzz boasts that "customers across the region already see the value of the all IP network in telephone bills that have been reduced by up to 80%". "By combining the Buzz Broadband and Buzz Phone services, medium sized businesses have increased capacity by over 1,000% while reducing costs by up to 60%. SME users have cut more than $1,000 of their monthly phone bills alone while doubling handset numbers," says the statement. www.airspan.com Related news items Hybrid Drive Boosts Laptop's Skillset -10/10/2007 The Poor Man's Palm -02/10/2007 Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Major Players To Test WiMAX Interoperability -26/09/2007 Palm Goes Consumer With Treo 500v -12/09/2007 Newer news items Engin Buys Into Unwired -03/09/2007 Tag This Now: