AT&T Latest To Trial WiMAX

AT&T will run a commercial trial of WiMAX wireless broadband technology, the Reuters news service reported Monday.

The news service quoted AT&T's Chief Technology Officer, Hossein Eslambolchi, as saying the company will build a small WiMAX trial this spring and roll out a larger trial with unnamed enterprise customers in later in the year.

Eslambolchi said the company is evaluating whether WiMAX can replace landline connections that it provides to its enterprise customers, according to Reuters. AT&T, which is being acquired by SBC, currently must lease many of its lines from incumbent telecom operators.

Reuters quoted Eslambolchi as saying that, with WiMAX, the company could "not only be able to lower your cost structure, but most importantly be able to generate new services and new capabilities."

Other telecom vendors, including Sprint, have also said they will trial and very possibly deploy WiMAX.