Nortel and Urban Wimax have teamed up to prove the technical viability of so-called 4G mobile Wimax as a successor to 3G across Western Europe, ahead of the UK's spectrum auction in early 2008.

The cross-market collaboration aims to prove that the required technology, services and infrastructure exists to construct and trial a user-ready, robust 4G service using Wimax connectivity.

"This leap forward in mobile connectivity supports a new generation of rich multimedia applications and social media services; and supports business users on the move with fast download and upload speeds for mobile working," said Gerry Collins, director of wireless EMEA at Nortel.

"Nortel's investment in Wimax and our role in this collaboration reinforces our commitment to driving the deployment of advanced broadband services across the country."

4G Wimax has a greater range than wi-fi and is capable of providing higher bandwidth at less than half the cost of existing wireless services.

This broadband quality service for mobile internet users will help support the increasingly bandwidth-heavy applications and user-generated content services that consumers are starting to use on the move as well as on the desktop.

Wireless broadband also has the potential to boost the capability and efficiency of mobile workers by providing users with speedy access to enterprise services on their mobile devices.

"The potential for 4G using Wimax connectivity is enormous. If the UK is to remain competitive in the digital economy it must improve broadband connectivity, both in terms of penetration and bandwidth," said Sasha Williamson, CEO of Urban Wimax.

"4G Wimax is the most economical way of achieving this and with the 2.5/2.69GHz spectrum becoming available next year, the collaboration will be in prime position to deliver a premier wireless broadband service to business and consumer users in the UK."

With broadband penetration accelerating in eastern economies such as China and India, Nortel and Urban Wimax believe that the 2.5/2.69GHz Wimax spectrum auction by Ofcom provides the UK with a vital opportunity to stay abreast of the competition with 4G roll-out.

The initial focus of the collaboration is to pre-assemble and test an end-to-end Wimax supply chain with trial customers and explore the business case for a national wholesale and retail mobile Wimax network.