Wi-Fi alternative discovered

13:00 1st October 2008

A consortium of leading IT and mobile companies is set to create a new category of mobile broadband devices which could deliver a compelling alternative to Wi-Fi.

GSM, the mobile communications trade body, is leading the scheme and believes that its actions will enable operators to address what it believes is a £30 billion market.

In the first phase of the programme, mobile operators, PC manufactures and chipset providers are uniting to pre-install mobile broadband into a range of PCs, which will then be ready to connect to the network.

The initiative is backed by Dell, Ericsson, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, T-Mobile, Toshiba and Vodafone.

Michael O'Hara, marketing officer for GSMA, said: "Mobile Broadband is like a home or office broadband connection with one crucial difference: freedom. This is freedom from hot spots, freedom from complexity and freedom from security concern."

Last week, the European Commission revealed that it is looking at ways in which all citizens can have access to broadband internet by 2012.

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