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WiMAX makes it into Vanco portfolio of managed services

This is not, emphasised Vanco CEO Allen Timpany, a move into wireless carrier business - but his company is going to offer WiMAX access "as part of its multi-technology WAN network solutions" business.

The company describes itself as "asset-lite" - it doesn't own infrastructure but just manages communications over a wide variety of other networks for its clients. It claims that at nearly £300 M, it's the biggest such virtual "value added network" provider in the world.

At an open day in Barcelona today, the company revealed that mobile comms is becoming a steadily greater part of its 20-year-old business - but Timpany said that it was most unlikely that he'd ever start operating as a mobile virtual network operator just because of a move into WiMAX.

"We looked into the business of being an MVNO three years ago," he told NewsWireless in an exclusive interview. "We drew up a business plan, and came to the conclusion that we could do a significantly good job for out clients - providing them with 25% better costs at least - but decided against the move."

The company decided that it would be a "good way to upset a lot of mobile carriers we have to work with," Tympany summarised."

The WiMAX deal simply adds wireless point to point links across the Vialtus (formerly Pipex) spectrum.

Andy Summer, MD of Vanco UK, issued a PR statement explaining that the deployment, for Somerfield, was already running.

The statement included a comment by Graham Currier, Business Development Director at Freedom4 to the effect that this year "has been touted as the year of WiMAX in the UK."

Currier described this as "another step in developing a robust broadband wireless solution for corporate users." He then went on to somewhat confuse the issue of what Vanco is doing - point to point backhaul - by talking about "the benefits of a 'personal' wireless service for staff on the move," which doesn't appear to be what this deal encompasses.