Australia Leads the World in Mobile WiMAX

Australia Leads the World in Mobile WiMAX

Personal Broadband Roaming - a World First

RICHARDSON, Texas, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia has furthered its world leading position in WiMAX with the launch of major subscription TV operator AUSTAR's wireless broadband network in one of Australia's major regional cities -- Wagga Wagga.

The launch means Australia now has three Navini-based pre-Mobile WiMAX networks which will ultimately be interoperable -- AUSTAR's network in Wagga Wagga and Unwired Australia's networks in Australia's two largest cities -- Sydney and Melbourne.

Unwired customers can already 'roam' between the company's networks in Sydney and Melbourne, while in the second half of 2006, Unwired and AUSTAR broadband customers will be able to roam across all three.

"We believe this will be a world first -- no other carrier in the world is yet able to offer roaming across another company's pre-WiMAX wireless broadband network. It shows that Australia is leading the way with the deployment of this global standard, and with the spectrum settings in Australia so conducive to WiMAX deployment, both companies see wireless as a viable alternative to the more traditional ADSL and cable broadband services," said Navini CEO Roger Dorf.

Unwired's and AUSTAR's networks combined currently cover more than 4 million Australians. However, the two companies own spectrum licences covering 90 per cent of the population, or 18 million Australians, following spectrum auctions in 2000 where the Australian Government licensed spectrum in the WiMAX designated 2.3 and 3.5GHz bands.

"Australia is in the unique position of having very large amounts of capacity in these two WiMAX designated bands with no restraints on the type of technology that can be deployed. In many ways we are the envy of carriers in other countries. Unwired, for example, has 190MHz in Sydney and 200MHz in Melbourne across the 2.3 and 3.5GHz ranges," said Unwired CEO, David Spence.

Unwired, which launched its Sydney network in August 2004 and then Melbourne in April 2006, currently has more than 50,000 customers. AUSTAR's launch into Wagga Wagga was the first step in its plans to cover 750,000 homes in 25 regional markets by the end of 2007.

John Porter, CEO of Austar, said, "Wireless broadband technology is perfectly suited for the regional and rural areas of Australia. Firstly, the purchase and installation process is faster, simpler and cheaper than other solutions such as ADSL. And perhaps most importantly, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) capability means that we can provide coverage despite the challenges of topography and the limited footprint of wireline networks."

"Navini is excited and proud to be working with leading companies like Unwired Australia and AUSTAR," Said Roger Dorf, president and CEO, Navini Networks. "Providing the ability to roam across the cities and regions is critical to the successful delivery of personal broadband and only Navini, with our Smart WiMAX(TM) solution, has been able to offer this in commercial deployments."

Navini has the most pre-802.16e mobile WiMAX experience in the world, including providing solutions in over 30 countries, which has led to numerous pre-standard deployments.

About Navini Networks:

With the largest commercial deployments in the world, over 50 commercial networks in 6 continents and strategic partnerships with industry leaders, Navini Networks leads the market in providing portable, plug-n-play broadband wireless access solutions.

Navini is the only company that has the patented smart beamforming technology, enabling personal broadband for the mass market today, with a seamless upgrade to the Mobile WiMAX standard to deliver Smart WiMAX(TM). (Smart WiMAX(TM) is the combination of mobile WiMAX and Smart Beamforming, which is critical for true personal broadband).

Navini's Ripwave(TM) MX portable, zero-install, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) product line consists of customer modems, base stations, and element management systems (EMS) run in the full range of spectrums and offers the industry's first and only dual-mode CPEs and PCMCIA cards as well as base stations, with software upgrades to the IEEE 802.16e standard.

Navini Networks is a principal member of the WiMAX Forum and the IEEE 802.16e committee. Headquartered in Richardson, Texas. For more information visit: http://www.navini.com/ .

About Unwired Australia

Unwired is an Australian-owned ASX listed wireless broadband carrier. It services residential, small office/home office and small to medium enterprise markets in greater Sydney and parts of Melbourne. The company had more than 50,000 customers in Sydney alone at end April 2006 and launched its Melbourne network in the same month. It has the majority of licensed spectrum in the WiMAX designated 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum in major population centres and some regional areas covering 64 per cent of Australia's total population. For more information visit: http://www.unwired.com.au/

About Austar United Communications (AUSTAR)

AUSTAR (Australian Stock Exchange "AUN") is a leading provider of subscription television services in regional and rural Australia, with more than half a million customers enjoying principally satellite digital television services. Internet and mobile telephony services complete AUSTAR's product offering. AUSTAR is also a significant provider of programming in the Australian television market through its 50% owned joint venture, XYZnetworks, which owns and/or distributes Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Discovery Channel, Channel [V], Club [V], MAX, Arena, The Lifestyle Channel, Lifestyle Food, CountryMusic Channel and The Weather Channel. Liberty Global Inc., the largest international broadband cable operator in terms of subscribers, holds an indirect controlling stake in AUSTAR. http://www.austarunited.com.au/

Source: Navini Networks

CONTACT: Maryvonne Tubb of Navini Networks, +1-972-852-4247, or
mtubb@navini.com

Web site: http://www.navini.com/
http://www.unwired.com.au/
http://www.austarunited.com.au/

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