Adam plucks first SA WiMax apple

South Australian internet service provider, Adam Internet, has turned on its first WiMax tower, an effort its chieftain Scott Hicks described as a "minor miracle".

The ISP marked the launch of its first tower, installed at Reynella, SA by assisting its first customers — an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Ford, who lived two kilometres away from the tower — to conduct a Skype video call with their children who lived interstate.

"Today we turned on our first WiMax tower. Six customers have been connected to that and it went live late last week. Even that is a minor miracle," Hicks told ZDNet.com.au this afternoon.

The WiMax network, expected to reach 350 blackspots and around 55,000 people in Adelaide, will eventually offer the city's outer regions a 12-megabit download and a 1 megabit upload wireless broadband service. Adam Internet had secured a $3 million tender in August to install the new network, which was co-funded by the SA and Federal governments.

Hicks said he expected the roll-out to be completed by November next year, but added that there was already pent-up demand for the new service. "We already, today, on our broadband blackspot site have had 12,000 customers register. People have gone to the website and said they want service right now," he said.

Hicks said Adam was building a team of contractors to cater for an installation schedule expected to reach around 80 to 100 customers per day.