Slovakia and neighboring Czech Republic are set to get a taste of high-speed broadband wireless access via a trio of deployments taking place across the region.
Orange S.A plans to launch a UMTS TDD trial and a HSDPA mobile Internet trial in the coming months in Slovakia. “Both alternatives have their advantages,” said Dana Prekopova, technical director at Orange. “They enable high transfer and low latency rates that will compete with fixed-line broadband.”
Orange did not identify the vendor supplying the HSDPA equipment.
San Bruno, Calif.-based IP Wireless Inc. is providing technology for Orange’s UMTS TDD trial. (The technology is also called TD-CDMA.) It is the second collaboration for the companies. Orange also has been testing IP Wireless service since March in Lille, France.
Meanwhile, rival T-Mobile Slovakia launched commercial wireless broadband service using infrastructure provided by Siemens AG using Flash-OFDM technology from Flarion Technologies Inc. The network is available in 20 select cities around the country. The network uses T-Mobile’s 450 MHz spectrum licenses and, according to the carrier, provides average network speeds of 1 megabit per second on the downlink and up to 256 kilobits per second on the uplink. Today the service only can be accessed from desktop modems and PC cards.
“By launching our Fast Internet service using Flash-OFDM technology, we are making a giant leap in increasing the lagging broadband Internet penetration in Slovakia,” said Robert Chvatal, chief executive officer of T-Mobile Slovakia. “We want to provide a broadband Internet choice also outside of big cities and increase the choice beyond DSL and cable.”
Similar network speeds were reported from Nextel Communications Inc.’s network trial of Flarion’s Flash-OFDM technology in a handful of North Carolina markets earlier this year. The Nextel trial used borrowed 1.9 GHz spectrum. Sprint Nextel Corp., which was formed from Sprint Corp.’s acquisition of Nextel in August, has said it plans to launch a broadband service using its substantial 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings. The carrier has announced several technology trials for the spectrum.
Flarion, which was recently acquired by Qualcomm Inc. for $600 million, has announced several domestic trials and limited network launches with regional wireless operators.
In the Czech Republic, another T-Mobile International AG subsidiary is launching what it calls “Internet 4G,” saying the next-generation wireless broadband access service is fast enough to allow subscribers to let go of their fixed-line access.
T-Mobile Czech Republic said it expects to show how subscribers can access the Internet, watch streaming video, and download music and large files at broadband speeds during demonstrations set for this week. The service also uses IP Wireless’ UMTS TDD technology.
“Internet 4G gives our subscribers full connectivity to work and play on the go and provides a connection that’s fast enough to replace the home fixed connection,” said Roland Mahler, managing director of T-Mobile Czech Republic. “With Internet 4G, we are confident that T-Mobile will strengthen its position as the No. 1 communications provider in the Czech Republic.”
T-Mobile said Internet 4G services initially are available in Prague and are rapidly expanding to other areas of the country.
