175 candidates have applied in France for WiMax licenses, among which France Télécom and Neuf Télécom, but also some rather strange ones like "les Autoroutes du sud de la France".

WiMAX, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is the wireless technology which ensures last-mile wireless broadband connectivity for home users and companies, like wireless mobile networks.

Since France is one of the most stable market in ADSL broadband Internet with speeds of up to 20 MBps, once a new wireless broadband networks is introduced, the Internet service usage will grow exponentially.

Theoretically, the WiMax allows transfer rates of 8.75 MB/sec, and the coverage of an antenna is around 45 km. Compared to WiFi, which covers some tens of meters, the performance boost is quite impressive.