WiMax built-in laptop to hit market soon

Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan

Up and coming WiMax operator Augure is planning to introduce 'WiMax embedded laptop' in the Bangladeshi market by the end of this year in a major attempt to consolidate the market for its high speed wireless internet technology in the country, officials said Monday.

The company has recently signed an agreement with the world's largest semiconductor chip-maker Intel and now says that it is looking to gain access to Intel's built-in WiMax chip which could potentially be a big deal in Bangladesh as a budding market for WiMax Internet technology.

"We would be looking to share our knowledge and experience with Intel as a result of the latest deal," said Russel T Ahmed of Augure, "And our aim would be to bring in WiMax embedded laptops to the Bangladeshi customers" he added.

Augure's plan could mean that laptop PCs with built-in WiMax operation could soon hit the retail laptop stores in Bangladesh, a move which could also potentially bring down the prices of WiMax internet services in the country.

Industry insiders also say that the move could be a big boon to expand the market for high speed WiMax Internet services locally, giving it a potential competitive advantage over 3G and other competitors.

It has been almost a year since the WiMax operators have started to roll out their network in Bangladesh. However, the long-term market potential for this high-speed Internet technology has come into question in recent times due to the high service charge and accessory prices the operators charge to the end users.

"Introduction of WiMax embedded laptops may also bring down that price and service charges of WiMax locally" Russel said, "As less or no extra accessories will be required for using the service and as such it could also increase the market share for WiMax Internet in Bangladesh."