802.16 Wimax is a Threat to Wired Operators.

spongebob

In their usual house style the Register take something quite complex and make it straightforward if you have some of the necessary jargon. Article Here

The thesis overall is that the US will benefit more from Wimax not least because the US has less 3G spectrum available. The reason there is plenty of 3G spectrum here is because supine muppets like Comreg reserve it for 3G instead of allocating it for licenced BB Wireless which is what Wimax is a standard for. 802.11 (Wi-Fi) is the standard for Un - Licenced BB wireless.

The message for Eircom in the article is a double edged one.

"So we see many of the world's large carriers at least trialling systems based on BWA technologies. The question is whether they can make sufficient revenue and profit from such networks to compensate for the decline of their wired networks and, especially for those in the US and Europe that are laden with debt, to retain the confidence of their investors. "

a) If you don't go with BB wireless then the competition will and you will die.

b) If you do go with it (using the spectrum your currently squat on) then you will probably die anyway.

M

Capt'n Midnight

Another way of looking at it is - WiFi is here now. Full 3G is still on the Horizon.

If you share the costs with other users it is possible to get wireless or cable BB for €25-30 which is about the same as Line Rental - also 80% of Irish Adults have mobile phones - so if you could get telephony over BB then Eircom Lines are redundant.

Next - if mobile operators dropped call costs to European averages then moving away from Land line is much easier - Think about it - apart from Foreign calls (do via third party) and Internet calls, how much would the rest of your phone bill cost if it was done by mobile ???