Startup Strix Systems Inc. is deploying what it claims is the largest WiFi mesh network in the world, which will eventually blanket the small Balkan state, the Republic of Macedonia [ed. note: known by some as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia].

The plan is to offer broadband coverage to 90 percent of the country's two million or so inhabitants for far less than they pay for wired broadband. "It will destroy the digital divide," claims Strix's new VP of marketing, Nan Chen [ed. note: known by some as the Former Atrica VP of Marketing].

Industry watchers have long talked up the capability of mesh networking to provide cheaper broadband to poorer communities, but, in the main, the major metro-mesh rollouts so far planned are in large cities such as Philadelphia and Taipei -- cities that already have wired broadband infrastructure in place rather than places that have very little copper in the ground.

The rollout is starting with 40 of Strix's six-radio 3630 mesh nodes in the capital city, Skopje, where most of the population lives. The aim is to charge €10 to €15 per month for connectivity (about US$11.75 to $17.50).

The 1,000-plus square-mile deployment is being funded and deployed by Macedonian service provider On.Net. The operator says it has tested multiple single- and dual-radio wireless mesh products over the past seven months, but the Strix multi-radio system was the one that performed well in the mountainous terrain of Macedonia.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung