Worldmax is abandoning its Wimax service Aerea in Amsterdam. The company said it's unable to expand the service due to interference in the 3.5GHz band with a ministry of defence ground station for an intelligence satellite. In the name of national security, the government put restrictions on the Worldmax operating licence. Worldmax filed a legal appeal that resulted in a compromise with the defence ministry, but the company did not disclose the details of the agreement. The company plans to write off all the investments in its network. Customers on the Worldmax network can continue using the service through July, and the company is in talks with other broadband providers about extending their services. Worldmax CEO Keimpe Algra said it was regretful to conclude that the well-developed mobile broadband initiative had to come to a direct end and the already reduced telecom offering in the Netherlands would be poorer as a result. Worldmax, in which Intel is an investor, launched its Wimax service in June 2008 in Amsterdam, based on a 802.16e-2005 (Rev-e) network built by Alcatel-Lucent.
