Everyone in the 4G industry hoping to see the latest WiMax and LTE offerings is gearing up for the Mobile World Congress. Alvarion will unveil its latest gadgets at the Barcelona event. It’s really the first event where LTE and WiMax will be showcased together instead of being pitted against each other. Another newsmaker was Sprint. They released their earnings report for the 4Q and year end 2009. They also hinted at building networks in Houston, Washington D.C., San Francisco and New York.
Deployment news slowed this past week. Mexico spectrum auction was delayed. Yota contracted Samsung to help with a complete build out in Russia. Isaac Organization and Excel announced their investment in China Tel, with an eye on launching WiMax in China. P1 outlined its expansion plans for continued growth in Malaysia.
Alvarion also set up an interoperability testing lab in Taiwan and Global Mobile purchased base stations to aid in its WiMax rollout in Taiwan.
In U.S. deployment, Newport continued its testing by providing service to a medical center. Portland may offer free WiFi to its community soon and Clear is rolling out WiMax potential by showcasing it inside a Ford Flex at the CAS.
Chips and product unveilings are coming in advance of MWC. Motorola unveiled its latest, a docking port that improves signal indoors. Sequans Communications teamed with CEVA to build out its processors and Sequans was in the news again for building the newest CPE along with Sumitomo. CEVA announced its partnerships with many different telecoms, creating a community of experts by pooling resources.
WiMax and LTE will co-exist next week at MWC in Barcelona. It will be interesting to see which technology comes out with the upper hand. And though LTE is still a few months away from launching, it is making a wave and turning the heads of experts.
Top Five Stories of the Week:
1. Sprint Releases 4Q and 2009 Report
3. Motorola Unveils Docking Station
4. Yota and Samsung to Build Complete WiMax Network in Russia
5. Isaac and Excel in ChinaTel
Stat of the Week: 32 percent: Percentage of Internet Penetration Yota has in Russia after launching in June 2009.
Tweet of the Week: r_santiba: I came back. The company made a link # WiMax than 700 m. Let the speed. # Rapidshare I will choose …..
Photo Courtesy of wajii via Flickr
