Clearwire Belgium Launches Commercial Service in Brussels
Brussels, BELGIUM. (10th May, 2005) --Clearwire
Belgium officially
launched its wireless broadband Internet service in Belgium today when
company leaders and officials cut through a strand of coaxial cable and
telephone wires at the Telecom cITy event in Brussels.
Clearwire's broadband Internet service uses licensed wireless spectrum
to provide service through a wireless modem plugged into the customer's
computer. This eliminates the need to be connected to traditional
coaxial cable or telephone wires. Clearwire is expanding rapidly across
North America, but Belgium is the first market in which Clearwire has
launched a commercial network in Europe.
"Clearwire is set to be the new third way of providing broadband access
to the residential market. It has all the features of its ADSL-based and cable
modem-based competitors, but is much easier and more convenient to use because
it offers true "plug and play" service and unmatched flexibility to
the consumer," said Matthew Ridgwell, director of Clearwire Belgium. "Using
a paperback-sized modem customers are able to get online within minutes of subscribing
and, uniquely, can move the
connection to different locations and access broadband Internet anywhere within
the coverage area."
Clearwire's network covers 50% of Brussels, or over 200,000 households, as
well as the nearby town of Mont-Saint-Guibert. Coverage of Brussels is rapidly
expanding and will cover the entire city by autumn this year.
Full details of Clearwire's service in Belgium are available via
www.clearwire.be. In order to subscribe, please call 0800 40 277 or
order via the website.
Clearwire Corporation is led by Craig McCaw, one of the early pioneers
in providing cellular phone service in the U.S. in the early 1980s. His
company, McCaw Cellular, grew to be the largest U.S. cellular service
provider and was later acquired by AT&T. In late October, computer chip
maker Intel announced that it had made a "significant" investment in
Clearwire, and that it was collaborating with the company to develop
WiMax technology. WiMax offers much greater range than Wi-Fi, a wireless technology
popular today in home and office networks, making it technically and economically
practical to achieve metropolitan wide
coverage In March, Clearwire and Bell Canada announced that Bell Canada would
become Clearwire's exclusive strategic partner for VoIP and certain other value-added
IP services and applications in the United States and that Bell Canada had invested
US$ 100 million in Clearwire Corporation.
The technology used by Clearwire's network is developed and manufactured by
NextNet Wireless, a Clearwire subsidiary located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
NextNet is the industry's most widely deployed provider of NLOS plug and play
broadband wireless access systems. The Expedience(r) system is deployed today
over licensed frequencies on five continents.
About Clearwire Corporation
Clearwire is a provider of reliable, wireless, high-speed broadband
Internet service to consumers and small businesses. Clearwire is
utilizing next-generation non-line-of-sight wireless technology,
developed by its subsidiary company NextNet, to connect customers to the Internet
using radio spectrum, thus eliminating the confines of
traditional cable or phone wiring. The tower transmits radio signals
from a base site to a small, wireless modem the size of a paperback
book, which easily connects a user's computer to the Internet. For more
information, please visit www.clearwire.com.
About NextNet Wireless, Inc.
NextNet is the industry's most widely deployed provider of NLOS plug &
play broadband wireless access systems. The Expedience(r) system is
deployed today over licensed frequencies on five continents. It is the
carrier's choice for National deployment in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
NextNet's U.S. carrier partners include Clearwire, Plateau,
SpeedNet and multiple ISPs in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan,
Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. In Mexico, NextNet is
the exclusive NLOS plug & play system supplier for MVS Comunicaciones,
Mexico's largest MMDS carrier, with licensed spectrum covering 67
million potential subscribers. In Canada, the NextNet solution is
deployed today in 4 provinces by the Canadian joint venture of Inukshuk, Allstream,
and NR Communications, which holds licensed spectrum covering 30 million Canadians.
NextNet's global reach includes deployments in Asia, Africa and multiple European
countries, including Ireland and Belgium. For more information, visit www.nextnetwireless.com.
