At least, this is the offer that just fell on the French public from Free.fr (they had shocked the competition just a few days ago by announcing that in the hot advertisment competition to replace the national telephone directory number with dozens of privately owned operations, they would open a free 118.818 number killing all possibility of competition). They announced that they are going to deploy a WiMax network immediately in the French metropoles.
Users equiped with the necessary wireless modem will have access to a nationwide network for broadband data. It is expected (knowing the usual price policy of Free.fr) that it could be extreemely well placed (for a reference point, today, they offer 20Mb/s ADSL, plus free telephone, plus free TV at 29.99€ per month). This should be the WiFi of broadband and it could be the end of the ugly connections between your portable PC and your 3G GSM phone (with sky-high prices, too).
If you think that Free.fr had previously said that WiMax would only be a mid-term solution (they said “3 to 5 years”), just think what would have been happening if they told us “short-term”…
Additional note: All about WiMax.