Last Mile Lights Up WiFi

LONDON -- Last Mile Communications, a UK company, announces future plans that are set to revolutionise the WiFi telecoms market by enabling low-cost data connection through wireless transceivers installed inside lamp posts.

The existing network of lamp posts and street furniture can be used as hosts for the devices.

The planned installation programme will see upwards of 150,000 lamp posts fitted with very low power wireless data transmission systems, making Last Mile's new venture a resourceful way of transforming the pavement and roads into an electronic carriageway. There will be no need to dig up the roads to lay cables and the problems of centralised and expensive network management systems are greatly reduced.

The main features of the system are: the very high bandwidth wireless data system capable of 40 to 400 MB/sec, large caches of memory in the transceiver posts and transmission at very low power levels with user exposure at approximately one thousandth of that of a mobile phone.

This high bandwidth, wireless data communications system was developed by Last Mile Communications for traffic management, and has been extended to meet the needs of 'Broadband Britain', of the public access wireless markets and of governments.

Once fully set up, the lamp post transmitters will create a "microcell mesh" of coverage allowing instant data connection from almost anywhere - the ultimate in wireless technology.

Last Mile owns the patents to core technology in this area - gaining significant advantage over competitors; an impressive feat for a start up company. The 'lamp post revolution' is starting and Last Mile are positioned with the right technology, in the right place at the right time.

Antony Abell, CEO of Last Mile, highlights the potential of their new network:

"If you look at how much electronics and storage you can get into a lamp-post, or a traffic light, or any other bit of ordinary street furniture such as a 'Keep Left' sign or a 'No Entry' indicator - it's impressive. We reckon that we can launch our system with a very conservative data service of up to 40 megabits per second for every user in the micro-cell around a lamp post.

"And we're confident that we can then upgrade the performance to a maximum of 400 megabits - maybe not for every user, but for several - in a 200-300 metre range. That's more data than anybody currently knows what to do with."

"…this is just the basic outline detail of what I suggest could be one of the largest and most exciting developments in the dissemination of electronic information since the advent of the internet - and I do not say this lightly." DTI comment 2002.

Last Mile Communications