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If Amsterdam is any indication, mobile WiMAX is already starting to overtake widespread WiFi in large metropolitan centers. Recently, Worldmax, a privately held Dutch firm, with Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), has activated a WiMAX network that covers the hub of the city, providing high-speed broadband to subscribers far beyond the limited berth of WiFi (News - Alert) hotspots. 

 

This network, termed Aurea, is only a shadow of the scale of deployment the company wishes to have in place within the next few years — by the end of the summer, the entire city; by the a few years’ end, the entire country. The new network boasts activation within 2 working days, and a monthly subscription fee, entailing access to unlimited wireless data, of 20 Euros per month. Currently, it needs a WiMAX PC card and USB adapter, but as soon as Intel (News - Alert) (a large investor in Worldmax) produces its WiMAX-compatible notebook chips, users will have all the technology they need, right out of the box. Quite the efficient relationship!

 

Worldmax, Alcatel-Lucent, and Intel intends to showcase their new system with live feeds from taxis and cruise ships at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress. Whether their network lives up to expectation remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Worldmax definitely knows how to kick off an event.