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BANGALORE: Bangalore has joined the elite club of cities enjoying high-speed wireless Internet services, popularly called WiMAX.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS) on Thursday launched the WiMAX service in the city. Base stations (towers) have been set up at Electronics City, Airport Road, St. John's Road, Jayanagar, Rajajinagar and Koramangala, each covering a radius of 5 km to 6 km. More will come up shortly, said Ram Shinde, Business Head, ABS, part of Chennai-based Aircel.

ABS would also create Wi-Fi (wireless internet) hotspots in the city where Internet services would be available through the use of pre-paid cards. Online registration would also be possible, Mr. Shinde said.

Those opting for WiMAX would be able to access the Internet anywhere in the city, he said.

Big corporates

Initially, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) will be made available to big corporates and small and medium enterprises at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh.

Individuals will have to wait three months for WiMAX because the modem required for the connection is not readily available, and has to be imported. Aircel is mass-producing the modems and will supply them free of cost in three months. Imported modems known as customer premises equipment (CPE) cost $ 400 (Rs. 18,000).

The payment for WiMAX will be on a monthly basis, and there will be the option of using pre-paid cards. It will eventually cover Mangalore, Mysore and Belgaum.

Mr. Shinde said the charges would be on a par with those offered by BSNL. In the near future, 26 more cities including Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Cochin and Ahmedabad will get WiMAX.

WiMAX is more efficient in preventing virus attacks. Connections would be given within 48 hours after applications were submitted, Mr. Shinde said. The connectivity would be upgraded so as to enable access to Internet through mobile phones while on the move even at the speed of 60 kmph.

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