WIRED on WIRELESS

[nlightn]

Telecom Italia to test WiBro technology at Turin Olympics
December 5, 2005


MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia has signed a deal with
South Korea's Samsung Electronics to run trials of new Wireless Broadband (WiBro) mobile technology at the 2006
Winter Olympics in Turin.

Telecom Italia, racing to claim a bigger slice of the mobile market, said on Monday it would be the first in Europe to offer WiBro, the South Korean version of the wireless broadband service WiMax.

WiBro is designed to provide broadband on the go, offering access at speeds of up to 30 megabits per second.

South Korea, a pioneer in broadband Internet services, launched a trial WiBro service in locations -- including buses -- last month, as Samsung unveiled its new phone designed for WiBro.

The Turin Olympics will run from February 10 to February 26.

Seeking to offset weaker fixed-line revenues and strong competition at home, Telecom Italia's mobile arm TIM invested 710 million euros in innovation in the first nine months of 2005.