KPN Tests WiMax

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Tests performed by KPN with new wireless technologies show that broadband access will soon be possible even for users in the remotest corners of the Netherlands.

While the Netherlands has ranked in the top five countries in terms of broadband penetration for years, still some hundred thousands of the country’s inhabitants and ten thousands of businesses, mostly situated in rural areas, currently have no fixed-line broadband access. The problem is that the distance to the telephone exchange cannot be too long without unacceptable loss of signal in the cables. KPN’s competitors have equal difficulty providing broadband in these areas.

For the tests currently ongoing in the province of Drenthe, KPN has equipped four radio masts with the latest wireless broadband equipment for both HSPA and WiMAX. To provide HSPA, KPN is cooperating with Ericsson who also supplies its current mobile network and has contracts with operators worldwide. WiMAX is a new technology for KPN, and to provide it the group is teaming up with Samsung, which has already rolled out WiMAX networks in Asia, Middle East, South and North America.

The tests look promising from a technical point of view, so a wireless solution seems at hand for households and businesses now still excluded from broadband access. The high-speed internet most of us are used to will become available for those living, working or vacationing out in the country, and even on the water. CRM and inventory systems will always be just a mouse click away, anywhere in the country, as will multi-MB presentations with pictures and videos. For TV, KPN already offers consumers a wireless option called Digitenne. Adding internet and voice via wireless broadband, KPN can offer its full range of services without resorting to cable.

KPN Board member Eelco Blok: “Late 2007, we will decide on the basis of the test results which of the two technologies for wireless broadband we will go ahead with, and roll it out in stages from 2008. By doing so, we can help consumers and businesses to get broadband internet access in remoter places where that is not possible at the moment”

KPN Telecom NV (NYSE: KPN)