Walker Wireless wins race into Wairarapa

By ADAM GIFFORD

Walker Wireless has notched up another win in the race to roll out broadband services to the regions, being chosen by the Wairarapa Smart Region group as its preferred technology supplier.

Left at the altar were UCC Technology and a consortium of Telecom and Broadcast Communications.

The same three vendors make up the shortlist for the Northland preferred supplier, which will be decided next week.

Walker also beat Telecom in Southland in October and, with partner Vodafone, is preparing to run a pilot of its IP Wireless technology in Tuatapere next month.

UCC director Leicester Chatfield said while he was disappointed to lose Wairarapa, the decision could give his company an edge in Northland.

"If Northland want a system before Christmas, they need to pick us," he said.

"We just need to bolt our gear on to the TV3 towers and put up four more towers and we will cover 80 per cent of the population up there."

Wairarapa Smart Region spokesman Geoff Copps said the alliance of Walker Wireless with Vodafone, which will carry the transmission equipment on its cellphone towers and provide the sales and distribution services, counted in its favour.

The palm-sized IP Wireless modems will cost about $500 and can be leased or bought outright.

"We are happy with Walker's technology and proof of concept," Copps said. "Now we want to see it work in a rural environment, which is where the trial in Southland comes in."

Depending on how Probe progresses, the Wairarapa region hopes to have contracts signed by June.

Walker Wireless chief executive Bob Smith said that while it was satisfying to win the tender, his company was committed to creating a national network.

"Probe is incremental to our core business case, rather than it being our business case," he said.

* Broadband includes high-speed internet but also provides for services such as internet telephony, video conferencing - and applications yet to be imagined.

Broadband project


* The Government's Provincial Broadband Extension project (Probe) aims to promote high-speed internet access to schools and provincial communities.

* The ministries of Education and Economic Development will choose technology suppliers for most regions through a tender process, with decisions expected mid-year.

* Southland, Wairarapa and Northland are running their own tender process.

* Suppliers can apply to Probe for a subsidy to cover the costs of ensuring all schools and remote areas get broadband access.

* The Government refuses to say how much it is prepared to spend in total, but it put $2 million into the Southland project, which sponsor Venture Southland estimates will cost $24 million.

Walker Wireless

Wairarapa Smart Region project

Project PROBE