BARCELONA, Feb 14: Later this year an unfamiliar radiowave will blanket five US cities when a new wireless Internet service backed by some of the biggest technology groups in the world begins its advance from a niche in Asia to the rest of the world.

WiMAX, the latest acronym invented by the telecommu-nications industry, is a sort of ultra-powerful wireless Internet service that has created a splash at mobile phone trade show 3GSM this year.

It offers quicker downloading speeds at home and creates constant wireless coverage in cities, which will eventually allow subscribers to connect to the Internet with their mobile phones wherever they are.

Wireless high-speed Internet is now commonplace in hotel lobbies, airports and homes thanks to Wi-Fi technology, which enables computers to connect to the Internet via a signal sent by a transmitter.

The main drawback of Wi-Fi is its short range, requiring users to go to “hotspots” within about 100 metres of a transmitter.

“With Wifi you have to go to a hotspot', but with WiMAX you'll be able to connect anywhere and at a higher bandwidth than before,” said Barbara Lopez, marketing manager for Intel's dedicated WiMAX division, Intel WiMAX.

The US chipmaker is part of a consortium of companies pushing WiMAX which includes hardware and handset makers Nokia and Motorola, South Korean electronics group Samsung and US telecom group Sprint.

WiMAX transmitters typically send a signal for about 10 kilometres, but the range can reach a maximum 20 kilometres.—AFP