Communicating fast

regional network operator Telabria has launched its wide area wireless broadband network after six months of intensive trials in Kent, in South East England.

Targeted at both residential and business markets, the company's Skylink service offers customers symmetric broadband speeds up to 10Mbit/sec, as well as voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone service.

Telabria says that Skylink is the first network of its kind in the UK to offer combined data and voice over a WiMAX-class network to homes and businesses.

The Skylink backbone of high-capacity fibre and licensed band microwave links encompasses over 1,300 square kilometres (850 square miles) making it one of the largest next-generation wireless broadband networks in Europe, bringing services to Kent’s population of 675,000 households and 60,000 businesses.

The initial roll out of Skylink includes the city of Canterbury and borough of Swale, with additional urban, suburban and rural areas planned as part of Telabria’s ongoing Skylink network expansion throughout 2005 and 2006.