Jippii Group has launched the Freedom service that allows mobile-phone users in Helsinki to access the Internet at speeds of between two and 11 megabits per second - a capacity thought to be possible only after the implementation of third-generation (3G) systems. According to a report in a London daily newspaper, Jippii is using the Dynamic HUT Mobile IP software, developed by a team of researchers led by Helsinki University of Technology professor Hannu Kari. The Finnish Internet service provider plans to launch similar services in London and Frankfurt next year. Tay Yong Chiang, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, said Dynamic HUT Mobile IP was based on open standards running on the Linux operating system. The software used 'mobile Linux hosts or base stations that route IP traffic in IEEE802.11 ad hoc mode on the 2.4 gigahertz, spread-spectrum microwave band where use of wireless network adapters is licence-free. 'The network provides relatively fast access for mobile hosts and disconnected segments of fixed hosts,' he said. Mr Tay said wireless Internet access within a 200-metre range was not covered under 3G licensing, so with Mobile IP more base stations were needed. He said Mobile IP had been around for a long time but research efforts 'have been on and off'. Recently there had been renewed interest in it because mobile operators hoped to incorporate it in 3G. But technical challenges, including security issues, remained, he said. According to the newspaper report, Jippii has persuaded French company Sagem to make mobile handsets compatible with traditional GSM mobile services and Freedom.