4G Inside: WiMAX Enabled Laptops Presented in Ukrainian Capital

KIEV, Ukraine, June 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- FreshTel has become Ukraine's first international Mobile WiMAX operator to present laptops equipped with Intel's WiMAX adapters. FreshTel, the Ukrainian 4G operator, and Intel, the leading producer of microelectronic hardware, have presented four portable computers, fully equipped and integrated to be used in WiMAX networks.

4G, the mobile broadband internet access technology, is gaining ground as a standard feature for laptop producers. The leading vendors are beginning to equip new portable PCs with the 2010 Intel(R) Core(TM) and Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 adapter. The multiband wireless adapter can be used in WiMAX networks in three frequency bands - 3.5 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz. FreshTel network launched in Kiev in September 2009 has enabled the residents of the Ukrainian capital and its suburbia to take advantage of this technology. In 2010-2011 the network is to cover all the major cities of the country.

"WiMAX adapter equipped laptops mark an important stage in the development of affordable 4G. From now on, every buyer of a portable computer or a netbook will be able to use mobile broadband internet at any time in any place. The technology enables video calls, online TV as well as other multimedia content, access to the lectures at the world's best universities, web conferences and webinars. This development indicates a higher level of Ukraine's integration in the modern knowledge-based economy," Kirill Dmitriev, president of Icon Private Equity says.

FreshTel and Intel have focused on the WiMAX-preinstalled netbooks - this segment of the global laptop market is rapidly growing: in 2008-2009 sales have more than doubled - from 16.4m to 33.3m units a year, their share in the total sales volume increased from 11% to 20%. Netbook devices boats a wide range of functions and low prices - FreshTel intends to offer its users netbooks at less than $300. These advantages along with the expanding coverage and affordable tariff plans (the minimum rate is as low as 59 UAH) can become a catalyst of explosive growth in penetration and usage rates of broadband internet in Ukraine and make it available at every secondary school, university, small enterprise and towns across the country.

Katerina Romanovskaya, email: [email protected], tel: +38-050-384-2875

SOURCE Icon Private Equity