AMSTERDAM, 15/03/07 - US chips maker Intel is starting a trial this week in Amsterdam with the Wimex technology for wireless Internet services. If successful, the entire country will be covered with Wimax transmitting masts, Het Parool newspaper reported.

Wimax is a sort of second-generation Wifi. Wifi enables wireless Internet access within a radius of - generally - just 100 metres from a 'hotspot.' With Wimax, the radius is much bigger. Download speed is also much higher and the technology relatively inexpensive, says Intel.

The trial covers an area of 10 square kilometres around the Arena football stadium. "We offer wireless access to the Internet for 30 to 50 euros per month. Our system is 10 to 20 times faster than UMTS. In the future, the speed will be increased even further," said Jeanine van der Vlist, director of Amsterdam telecom company Worldmax, a subsidiary of Intel and Dutch company Enertel.

Worldmax is only functioning as network provider. "The network will be filled by other partners, such as broadcasters, phone companies, video services and security." Wimax will be a standard component in mobile phones by around 2008, predicts Van der Vlist.