Montreal Tech Watch

Radioactif, a local internet service provider, announced earlier this summer that they will deploy a Wimax network in Montreal, with Nomade Telecom as the mobile wireless expert partner for this project. The announced date was then September 2007, but they have now a page about the details of the service, which is now due Dec. 2007.

Interestingly, the page also mentions mobile IP telephony, which means customers who are subscribed to the $30 monthly service will also be able to leave Bell Canada in the process. For me this is a very smart move from Radioactif. It doesn’t require a mobile license to deploy a wimax network, which is considered by the CRTC as a wifi technology. Videotron wishes on the other hand to be the 4th mobile carrier in Canada, but are stumbling instead in political games and bullyinglobbying by the 3 other telcos. I know other entrepreneurs here in Quebec who wanted to launch a mobile phone network, and this might be the answer.

Wimax is a wireless alternative to cable and ADSL, providing users a practical service like wifi but with speeds up to 5Mbps. Previously, it required to have a rather big device, the size of a router to get the signal, but manufacturers like Intel are now launching cards that can fit into PCMCIA slots.