WiMax has finally crept into Vodafone’s service repertoire. The mobile giant has just launched commercial fixed WiMax services in Malta, and has been busy acquiring licences, testing, and investing in the technology worldwide.

While Vodafone’s small-scale Maltese deployment is unlikely to cause meltdown in the mobile network infrastructure community, wrote Michelle Donegan, European editor at Unstrung, it could be seen as a shot across the bows of vendors perceived to be dragging their heels over the development of long-term evolution, or 4G, products – especially as Vodafone is now involved in WiMax activities in Bahrain, France, Greece, New Zealand, and South Africa, too, either directly or through affiliates.

And it’s not as if the vendors haven’t been warned. At this year’s 3GSM event in Barcelona, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin told the infrastructure firms that technologies like LTE were developing at far too slow a pace for his liking.

Vodafone currently uses WiMax for fixed broadband services. The technology is just one element of its Mobile Plus strategy, which it launched about a year ago, along with other broadband technologies such as DSL.

In Malta, Vodafone is deploying WiMax base stations from Airspan Networks Inc. The fixed wireless broadband network will allow Vodafone to bundle fixed and mobile data and VoIP services for both residential and business customers.

For now, WiMax is a fixed broadband play for Vodafone: The 3.5GHz licence in Malta, like the 3.5GHz licence it owns in Greece, does not allow for mobility.

But that’s set to change, because regulators are considering whether to lift the mobility restrictions on 3.5GHz licences. In the UK, for example, the Office of Communications is consulting on amending UK Broadband Ltd’s 3.5GHz licence to allow mobility. This decision could set an important precedent that other European countries may follow.