Intel chairman urges Russian President to go WiMAX

Not willing to let up on its campaign to see WiMAX become a widescale success, Intel's chairman, Craig Barrett, is reported to be planning to meet with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other government officials in an effort to open the door to WiMAX.

Intal is said to have become frustrated at the lack of progress following the signing last year of a WiMAX co-development agreement with the Russian telco Comstar. The joint effort targeted a city-wide mobile WiMAX network in Moscow, but government allocation of frequencies has been an obstacle to implementation, Barrett said. If negotiations are successful, Intel hopes to launch a WiMAX network in Russia by the end of the year.

Regardless of this high-level lobbying, the Russian telco Enforta has announced plans to expanding its WiMAX network to cover another 22 cities this month, bringing the total to 55--but excluding Moscow.

For more on this story:
- read EE Times and Telegeography

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