U.K. carrier Pipex and Airspan today announced they have begun a six-month technical trial of Airspan’s IEEE 802.16d gear in the Midlands region of Britain. Though not a huge win for the broadband wireless vendor, the trail is unique in that both Airspan and Pipex claim it will be the first deployment of WiMAX compliant gear in the U.K.

The WiMAX Forum isn’t expected to begin interoperability and compliance testing until this fall, only after which WiMAX certification will passed out. While many vendors have stated they are now rolling out the same equipment they have submitted to the Forum’s lab in Malaga, Spain, for testing, all of them have labeled their gear Pre-WiMAX or WiMAX track.

The Forum is expected to beginning compliance testing in October, in which all of the vendors gear will be tested to see it meets not only the 802.16-2004 technical guideline and that it all interoperates. The first commercial equipment was originally expected this summer, but with delays in preparing the labs and setting the testing schedule, the first commercial kits aren’t expected to be certified until next year.