Mobile phone giant begins pilot LMDS scheme
Mobile phone operator Panafon-Vodafone said yesterday it had recently launched a pilot LMDS scheme (Local Multipoint Distribution System) for major corporate clients, just nine months after it gained a fixed wireless telephone license. Claiming to be the first to offer this service, the company said it will now be able to improve the potential of its Panafon Partner service, a facility that allows for Internet feed, mVPN and connecting services. LMDS, a system that allows for broadband microwave wireless to be transmitted directly from a local antenna to homes and businesses within a line-of-sight radius, represents a solution to the so-called last-mile technological problem of providing economically feasible high-bandwidth services to users. Businesses that need to transmit data at high speed, Internet users utilizing interactive television and others interested in voice services are expected to be the first LMDS subscribers. Since the acquisition of its fixed wireless telephone permit, it has built five LMDS hubs across Athens, Panafon-Vodafone said in a statement. Users in the city center and the suburbs of Maroussi, Ambelopiki and Kolonaki can avail themselves of these services. The first hub in Thessaloniki should be up and running soon. The mobile phone operator said it plans to expand its network of hubs in both cities soon.
