Unwired's national network pushed back again

UNWIRED'S plans to establish Australia's first national metropolitan WiMax network have been pushed back further.

The wireless internet company's media parent, Seven Group, said it had begun testing the new network but commercial services might still be up to a year away.

A Seven Group spokesman said trials currently under way would enable the company to build a financial structure for the project that was expected to proceed "in the current financial year".

The spokesman was unable to reveal whether the project would go ahead in the first or second half of the year. "We're very pleased with the technology and the opportunities with Unwired. We'll do it right, not rushed," the spokesman said.

Unwired has been planning since early last year to expand its network beyond metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne into other capitals.

The company aimed to start converting its network from what it has described as "pre-WiMax" technology to WiMax infrastructure, but it has already delayed the project twice. It was expected to go ahead last year, but last August chief executive David Spence said it would be delayed until early this year.

In February, Unwired revised its schedule, saying it planned to begin deploying WiMax in July.

By May Seven Group had not chosen a contractor to expand the network and Mr Spence was unable to commit to a start date.

A recent Australian Communications and Media Authority report revealed that consumers were rapidly replacing their fixed-line broadband services for wireless services at a rapid rate.

Between 2005 and 2007 the wireless broadband industry grew its share of the market from 2 to 9 per cent to reach around 481,000 subscribers.

It's not clear how many subscribers Unwired's picked up in the boom. ACMA cited the emergence of low cost 3G broadband services for the sharp increase in wireless broadband users and Seven Group did not reveal Unwired's subscribers last week.