The technology is based on SCDMA, still used in China in the 400MHz band, and is known as Multicarrier Wireless internet Local Loop (McWiLL). It's been in field trials in a few Chinese cities, including Guangzhou and Qingdao, where it's been used for video, voice and data communications.

The most recent trial in Qingdao, where Olympic sailors will compete in 2008, was used to test the relay of race information back to shore. "We hope the Olympics will be the first commercial deployment," said Wen Bin, vice president of technical marketing at Xinwei Telecom Technology.

McWiLL combines SCDMA's traditional use in narrow-band voice and introduces a nomadic broadband data service that ties into an IP-based core network, Wen said. It is based on CS-OFDMA adaptive modulation, and uses dynamic channel allocation and smart antennas to enhance its throughput.

Using 5MHz of radio frequency in the 1.8GHz band, a single base station can achieve throughput of 15 megabits per second for 1 to 3 kilometers in an urban setting, or an aggregate of 45 megabits in a three base station sector. Using the 400MHz band, its reach ranges from 20 to 60 kilometers in rural settings, where it is being used to connect remote villages to Internet based government services.

Client side devices using a 1MHz sub-carrier can reach download speeds of up to 1Mbps and upload speeds of 500Kbps while traveling at 120 kilometers per hour. Xinwei has several devices in production, including access points, PCMCIA cards and modules for PDAs. It is also prototyping a combination 3G/McWiLL handset.