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Milton Keynes to host Pipex WiMax

Jo Best silicon.com

Published: 21 Aug 2006 17:50 BST

Milton Keynes is to play host to a WiMax rollout.

WiMax, a long-range wireless broadband technology, will be deployed around the city in a commercial trial by Pipex Wireless, a joint venture between ISP Pipex and chip giant Intel. Local businesses and public sector organisations are expected to take part in the trial.

According to Graham Currier, business development manager for Pipex Wireless, Milton Keynes was chosen because of its sprawling geography, the technophile nature of its local council and its sub-par broadband provisioning.

Currier told ZDNet UK's sister site, silicon.com: "It has pretty poor broadband because of the way it was built — the cable lengths are long so it's not good for DSL."

The local authority is keen to adopt new technologies and is part of the Digital Challenge — a project to "create a digitally enabled society".

Currier added that the ISP doesn't expect recruiting Milton Keynes residents to the trial will be hard work. "There are people chomping at the bit, saying 'we have rubbish broadband'. I don't think we'll have a problem getting people signed up."

The trial is expected to commence before the end of the year and will not cover the entire city.