At The Australian, Andrew Colley reports that Austar will be testing its planned WiMAX network on the lucky residents of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. SP Telemedia (now Soul) will be providing the backhaul.

"Wagga is a definite pilot," says Soul CEO Michael Simmons. "We're in discussions with a couple of regions that we'd like to move into sooner than others because of aggregated demand."

The eventual aim is for Austar's WiMAX network to reach 750,000 homes in the region.

And in a recent demonstration of WiMAX's potential, Colley writes, Intel worked with the Australian Resource Centre for Healthcare Innovation and the Alfred Hospital to showcase a WiMAX network at the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne. In the demo, Intel used WiMAX to beam x-rays to the Alfred Hospital from a trackside medical center at the grand prix.

The Alfred's press release regarding this demonstration is here.