WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over relatively long distances. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. The name "WiMax" was created by the WiMax Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard.
A typical installation of a WiMax system could give users in an area three to 10 kilometres wide a 40 megabits per second (Mbps) connection to the net.
Based on its emerging specification 802.16x, WiMax wireless access range is thought of in square kilometres rather than square metres in WiFi. WiMax can be used for a number of applications, including "last mile" broadband connections, Hotspots and for an alternative to 3G - a cellular backhaul.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has researched the prospects for WiMax, a technology widely touted as one to beat both wi-fi and third-generation mobile networks and concluded that WiMax could be the answer for rural areas where it is too expensive to run cables or upgrade exchanges to support broadband.
Areas of low population density and flat terrain are particularly suited to WiMax and its range. For countries such as India and Pakistan that have skipped wired infrastructure as a result of prohibitive costs and unsympathetic geography, WiMax can enhance wireless infrastructure in an inexpensive, decentralized, deployment-friendly and effective manner.
Currently, Pakistan's Wateen Telecom has the largest fully functional WiMax network in the world installing the network in seventeen cities throughout the country using Motorola hardware.
Tata Communications, is aiming to provide 115 Indian cities with WiMax by March 2009.
WiMax and Pipex the UK
Milton Keynes has became the first major town in the UK to benefit from wide area coverage via WiMax wireless broadband technology in 2006. The Milton Keynes roll out initially provided around 500 businesses and homes with long-range wireless access speeds of up to 10Mbit/s, powered by five base stations. The project is a collaboration between the city's local authority and ISP Pipex.