Siemens installs first WiMAX network in Latin America

July 5, 2006

Siemens installs first WiMAX network in Latin America

Siemens Communications has installed Latin America’s first commercial WiMAX network for Orbitel, Colombia’s leading long-distance operator. The new network is located in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, and provides wireless internet access on the basis of Siemens’ WayMAX@vantage solution comprising base stations, modems and a monitoring and control system. Over the coming months, Orbitel will start to roll out the Siemens WiMAX technology in a further 14 major Colombian cities.

All-in-all, Siemens will cover 15 Colombian cities with WayMAX@vantage for Orbitel to provide the company’s dcustomers with broadband internet access featuring data rates of up to 2 megabits per second. The network supports data-intensive services such as high-quality video streaming to laptops.

“We have chosen Siemens as our partner for the implementation of this project in view of the extraordinary functionality, the high performance and the simplicity offered by its WayMAX solution,” said Alejandro Toro, Orbitel’s head project manager.
“The Orbitel project opens up the Latin American market for our WiMAX technology. It is a major milestone in the regional rollout of our wireless technologies,” said Christoph Caselitz, president of Mobile Networks at Siemens Communications.

The WayMAX@vantage solution from Siemens is one of the first products to pass the interoperability tests of the WiMAX Forum’s international standardization laboratory. It is certified for the WiMAX FDD 3.5 GHz system and thus ready for the future IEEE 802.16e-2005 OFDM profile and the ETSI HiperMAN standard. The IEEE 802.16 standard used today allows data transmissions at rates of up to 10.5 megabits per second with a bandwidth of 3.5 MHz. The certification ensures the interoperability of systems from different vendors, thus reducing the investment risks for operators.

About WiMAX
Based on the IEEE 802.16 standard specification, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a high-speed broadband connection technology for private and business customers. It is particularly well-suited for applications requiring fast Internet access such as video streaming. The wireless technology provides users with easy access to broadband communications, particularly in rural or remote areas where it would be difficult or uneconomical to install high-speed connections over conventional or fiber-optic cables.

The WayMAX@vantage solution offered by Siemens provides broadband wireless access for several thousand users within a radius of up to 30 kilometers around each base station.

Press pictures can be found at:

http://www.siemens.com/communications/presspictures

About Orbitel
Orbitel is an agile, competitive and innovative company that specializes in providing information technology and communication services. In Colombia, it is the only long-distance company that is being run under a private-sector management model. In operation for five years, Orbitel is considered to be the telecommunications company with the greatest international expansion and has become the operator with the largest share of the incoming and outgoing international long-distance market. Following its consolidation on the domestic market, it began a stage of expansion in 2002, which has enabled it to maintain a significant presence outside its borders, with products and services aimed at the Hispanic communities living in the United States and Europe. It is now poised to be the first Colombian-based company able to offer services that are 100 percent WiMAX-based.

More about Orbitel at

http://www.orbitel.com.co

Press Code: COM MN 2006 07.03 e
Press Office Communications
Monika Bruecklmeier
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