VALLETTA (WiMAX Day). The first WiMAX network for Vodafone Group is being prepared for roll-out in Malta. It was also announced last week that Airspan networks would supply Vodafone with its HiperMAX base station and customer premise equipment (CPE), which is particularly well suited for this kind of deployment in dense metropolitan areas such as Malta.

The WiMAX network in Malta will use 3.5 GHz spectrum that was awarded to Vodafone Malta in October 2005. According to a Vodafone press release, the company has been testing the WiMAX service during an “intensive trial period which Vodafone Malta implemented with approximately 200 users over the past couple of months.”

“This is another important milestone for Vodafone Malta. We are the first local mobile operator to launch fixed WiMAX Wireless Broadband Access hence confirming once again that we are consistently the innovators by deploying the latest technology,” said Hatem Dowidar, the outgoing CEO of Vodafone Malta.

For Malta, WiMAX will be bring a significant improvement to broadband services. The Maltese Minister for Investment, Industry and IT, Hon. Dr Austin Gatt, said in a press release that the launch of Vodafone’s WiMAX service is an important development in the growth of Malta’s ICT infrastructure. Minister Gatt added that “a stronger, wider, faster connectivity infrastructure creates the space for locally developed, locally relevant enriching content.”

The Vodafone WiMAX service will be branded “@Home,” a brand name Vodafone uses in other markets for its broadband packages. The service will bundled with mobile and fixed services to provide broadband data and VoIP to both residential and business customers.

The service will launch initially in several cities on the island of Malta, and Vodafone says that the WiMAX network will offer nationawide coverage by March 2008. This is a swift deployment of WiMAX technology, and illustrates how fast a network can be deployed when an operator works closely with an equipment vendor. “Airspan has been very responsive to our needs and has provided excellent technical support as we’ve worked our way through this milestone deployment,” said Joseph Muscat, CTO of Vodafone Malta.

The Vodafone service initially will offer “fixed” as well as “nomadic” services, where a connected device or modem can be moved from one location to another. If in the future Vodafone Malta decide to offer “mobile” WiMAX services, Airspan note that its equipment is capable of “software upgrades from fixed to mobile WiMAX.”