MLL Telecom Joins UK's Mobile WiMAX Acceleration Group

(Business News & Technology News, 18 Aug 2008)

MLL Telecom has joined the Mobile WiMAX Acceleration Group (M-WAG), which is bringing together companies from across the telecoms and media industries with the aim of providing the components for the delivery of a commercially viable mobile WiMAX service. A trial network in Maidstone, Kent, is M-WAG's first in the UK and is being used to demonstrate a number of different consumer and business applications.

MLL specialises in building and operating broadband wireless networks and is an active participant in the Maidstone pilot network, which runs over 2.5GHz and covers 7.5 square kilometres in the centre of the town.

A range of trials running over the M-WAG network include:
- Broadcast Trial—Electronic News Gathering
This is aimed at demonstrating the ability of Mobile WiMAX to provide a rapid response and cost-effective means of linking, in real-time, the output from news crews back to the studio centre.

- CCTV Trial
A number of Maidstone Council's CCTV cameras are connected to the trial WiMAX network to provide 24/7 monitoring.

- Public Safety Trial
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is testing the use of Mobile WiMAX to deliver real-time video between an incident scene, a mobile command unit and the brigade control room, with the intent of improving the communication between at-scene commanders and central control. Facilities will also be created to link mobile units with Maidstone Council CCTV and to download high resolution satellite and aerial imagery from incident scenes.

- Broadband on the Move/Mobile VoIP
WiMAX will be available in a number of cars in Maidstone.

- Wi-Fi to WiMAX handover
With appropriate roaming agreements in place between operators, users can wander between WiFi and WiMAX networks in a seamless way, which enables greater flexibility and better service to the customer.

Consumer benefits demonstrated by the M-WAG pilot network include untethering the user's broadband experience, making high bandwidth and high quality multimedia services, such as online games and MP3 downloads, accessible and affordable outside of the home or office.

The Mobile WiMAX Acceleration Group was established in 2007 to demonstrate the technology chain required for mobile WiMAX roll-out in the UK and prove the business case ahead of Ofcom's forthcoming spectrum auction.

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