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Marconi to Use Airspan's WiMAX Products for the Largest Ever Public Trial of WiMAX; Marconi and Airspan Networks Launch Three WiMAX Trials in Italy

Posted on: Monday, 12 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Marconi Corporation plc (LSE:MONI) (NASDAQ:MRCIY) today announced it has been selected to support the widest public trial of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) to date, providing WiMAX connectivity in Italy's Piedmont and Sicily regions. The selection was made by a working party including representatives from the Italian Ministry of Communications, the Italian Ministry of Defence and the Ugo Bordoni Foundation, which is coordinating the trial at national level.

Working in partnership with Airspan Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRN), Marconi will deploy Airspan's AS.MAX family of WiMAX broadband wireless access products. The AS.MAX product family is IEEE 802.16-2004 compliant and, thanks to its Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology, it can be upgraded to be IEEE 802.16e compliant, to include Spatial Division Multiple Access advanced services.

Marconi was selected for the trials by the working party due to its ability to provide indoor self-installable and outdoor customer premise terminals, which work in line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight environments, allowing the AS.MAX product family to operate in urban, suburban and rural areas. The success of the trials will underline the effectiveness of WiMAX and provide a scalable, customisable and competitive Wireless Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line network allowing operators to bridge the digital divide in a number of Italian regions.

"This trial is an exciting development for the broadband wireless access market in Europe. Marconi's involvement in the first ever public trials highlights our unique capability and expertise in implementing multiservice wireless networks," said Giorgio Bertolina, managing director of Southern Europe and Central & Latin America for Marconi. "The trial will ensure that, in the future, economic broadband wireless connectivity is made available for every resident and business in diverse geographical areas of Italy."

"The progress made in Italy towards embracing the benefits of the WiMAX technology has been very impressive. We believe that WiMAX will bring the customers in Italy more choice and more flexible broadband access. We are were pleased with the progress we have made with Marconi as our partners and look forward to serving the Italian community with our technology," said Mahir Ozdamar, Airspan's Vice President Business Development.

The Airspan AS.MAX product family has been submitted for the initial phase of the WiMAX compatibility certification trials that are currently being carried out at CETECOM(TM), the official certification laboratory of WiMAX Forum(TM), located in Malaga, Spain.

About Airspan Networks

Airspan Networks provides fixed and wireless voice and data systems and solutions, including Voice Over IP (VoIP). Its wireless products serve operators around the world in both licensed and unlicensed frequency bands between 700 MHz and 6 GHz, including both PCS and 3.5GHz international bands. Airspan has a strong wireless product roadmap that includes offerings compliant with the new WiMAX 802.16-2004 standard, and software upgradeability to 802.16e from the time the WiMAX products are introduced. Airspan is on the Board and a founder member of the WiMAX Forum. The Company has deployments with more than 300 operators in more than 100 countries. Airspan's wireless systems are based on radio technology that delivers excellent area coverage, high security and resistance to fading. These systems can be deployed rapidly and cost effectively, providing an attractive alternative to traditional wired communications networks. Airspan's new i-Tone VoIP system is a carrier class, turnkey solution that provides carriers with Class 4, Class 5 and IP-Centrex solutions and has a softswitch and gateways supporting H323, SIP and MGCP. i-Tone's design provides customers; carriers, next-generation telcos, cellular providers and ITSP with a wide range of solutions with the best price/performance system for IP telephony. Airspan also offers radio planning, network installation, integration, training and support services to facilitate the deployment and operation of its systems. Airspan is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida with its main operations center in Uxbridge, United Kingdom.

More information on Airspan can be found at http://www.airspan.com

About Marconi Corporation plc

Marconi Corporation plc is a global telecommunications equipment, services and solutions company. The company's core business is the provision of innovative and reliable optical networks, broadband routing and switching and broadband access technologies and services. The company's customer base includes many of the world's largest telecommunications operators.

The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol MONI and on NASDAQ under the ticker MRCIY. Additional information about Marconi Corporation can be found at http://www.marconi.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding the strategy, future operations, financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of Airspan and its management, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. The words "anticipates,""believes,""estimates,""expects,""intends,""may,""plans,""projects,""will,""would" and similar expressions or negative variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Airspan may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in their forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Airspan is also subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Airspan's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2004. You should read those factors as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this press release. Airspan does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Source: Business Wire

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