Warwick next to get a slice of Pipex's WiMax pie<br/>

Pipex Wireless is gearing up to launch a second commercial trial of its WiMax technology in the next few months, following the successful connection of its first beta customer in Milton Keynes just before Christmas.

The service provider plans to launch the pilot, which will run for six months in three sites in the Leamington Spa and Warwick area, as early as April.

Warwick District Council, which serves a population of more than 140,000 people, will be the first customer to use the service, with the aim of extending its reach to cover other local businesses and home users.

National Grid Wireless and Intel Solution Services are key parties involved in the project, which will replace leased lines and implement voice over IP (VoIP) and dedicated broadband connectivity.

Base stations that make use of Airspan's HiperMAX technology will be installed in the area. At present, the only confirmed base station location is National Grid Wireless' headquarters in southern Warwick.

"Attracting the latest wireless broadband and voice services to the area is great news," said Chris Elliott, chief Executive at Warwick District Council.

"We are looking to make the district a technologically advanced area to live and do business in. Working with Pipex Wireless on this trial and beyond is a vitally important step to achieve this aim."

Stephen Marshall, chief executive of National Grid Wireless, added: "We are pleased to be working with both Warwick District Council and Pipex Wireless to deliver WiMax services in our home town.

"Our business is founded on the delivery of infrastructure and managed service solutions to the wireless and broadcast industry and we believe the roll out of wireless broadband networks will be complementary to the wide range of technologies already deployed by our organisation."

Pipex Wireless has been using test-bed facilities in Stratford-Upon-Avon for some time to demonstrate the theoretical benefits of WiMax.

This work was complemented by a pilot in Milton Keynes that started in September to demonstrate the technology in action.

The first users were connected to the service in December last year, with the aim of ultimately reaching around 500 users with connectivity speeds of up to 10Mbps during the remainder of the trial before rolling out additional commercial services.

Pipex Wireless' WiMax testing activities will not stop at the trials in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Milton Keynes and Warwick as the company has plans to roll out the service to other towns and cities later this year.

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