Amsterdam welcomes wireless broadband network Wimax

Written on 17th June 2008                                                                                                              6 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Today is a good day. From now on I can use broadband Internet wherever I am in my city. Even when I’m riding my bicycle or chilling in my favorite bar. As Worldmax – partly funded by Intel and Greenfield – launched a mobile version of the Wimax standard today.

CEO Jeanine van der Vlist told Reuters that Worldmax is aiming to roll-out a nationwide network, which will require 30,000 sites. The costs of this ambitious project will run into hundreds of millions euros.

Worldmax will charge around 20 euros per month for a subscription, which will grant laptop users unlimited use of data. As you can imagine, mobile operator won’t be happy with the arrival of this new player. Since they have already been desperately trying to prevent people from using VOiP and other services that threaten their revenue sources.

Holland isn’t the first country that welcomes Wimax, as Vodafone already offers the service in Malta. However, these Wimax sites don’t allow browsing on the move – as a laptop has to be stationary to connect with the web.