WiMAX technology is continuing to attract operators interested in bringing broadband internet to customers who recognize the value of 4G services
WiMAX Forum
Earlier this week, several WiMAX operators met in Taipei to discuss the development of global, or international, roaming on WiMAX networks. The first-ever WiMAX Forum Global Operators Summit served as an opportunity for operators to draft cooperative agreements and move forward in achieving global roaming on 4G networks.
Just like for traditional cell phones, WiMAX roaming involves using another provider’s network when outside reach of your own. Global roaming refers to borrowing such services when outside your home country. Roaming is made possible through agreements between the various providers to share their services with each other’s subscribers. For WiMAX service, this feature is still in its nascent stages. Analysts project revenues from WiMAX global roaming to grow up to 86% within the next five years.
According to some reports, new IEEE 802.16m standards for WiMAX technology and equipment were hoped to have been set in Taipei. Final approval, though, is not expected until March.
With many of the world’s manufacturers of WiMAX-related products based in Taiwan, the conference was also seen as an opportunity for local producers to meet with international service providers. With the influx of so many representatives from around the world, officials in Taiwan’s Ministry for Economic Affairs hoped the summit would generate deals, agreements, and ultimately revenue for the Southeast Asian country.… Read the rest
November 23-24 were
The WiMAX Forum announced a few key note speakers at WiMAX Forum Congress 2010 from 16-17th of June in Amsterdam. Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL will address the audience on June 16. He will highlight the future of wireless broadband in India.
BSNL owns some spectrum space in India and launched commercial services last month. His address is entitled “India Empowered: BSNL’s Broadband Ambitions and Strategies for Addressing the Digital Divide with WiMAX“. Many in the wireless world will look to the current spectrum auction in India as the potential volume of opportunity being significant enough to make a difference for all WiMAX industry players.
Yota Director of Business Development Anton Koplakov will speak at the event. It will be the first time the general public will hear from Yota after their recent announcement of changing to LTE from WiMAX on the 2.5Ghz frequencies. Koplakov will speak on June 17.
Intel, Samsung, Alvarion, Huawei, ZTE, Tellabs, Motorola, Ciena, MACH and Bridgewater Systems sponsor the event. Goyal and Koplakov will join Barry West from Clearwire and Dr. Fumio Watanbe from UQ Communications and 35 plus operators speaking during the event. It’s a great opportunity to mingle and meet WiMAX industry insiders.
Yota’s decision to change over to LTE has industrialists asking why they’ve decided to do it so soon? Clearwire has also hinted at changing over to the technology. Insiders will debate whether to change over, along with exploring other applications for the technology.… Read the rest
GoingWiMAX.com had the pleasure of interviewing Kelvin Lee, Senior General Manager of Green Packet Berhad. He highlighted Greenpacket’s latest home WiMAX modems along with his take on the future of the WiMAX industry.
1. How do the latest modems differ from the ones Greenpacket released at the WiMAX Forum Congress Americas in December 09?
The EX series is a part of our cost-effective range of WiMAX modems that specifically caters to the residential market segment which according to 4GCounts, accounts for 68% of WiMAX subscribers.
This is why the EX series is engineered to fulfill the fundamental broadband need of home users by offering one LAN and one VoIP port. Single users do not need to pay for what they do not use. However, they are still empowered with a choice of connecting a router to the modem if they need more ports.
There is also cosmetic difference between the EX series and the DX and UH series that we launched last December.
The benefits of our new cost-effective range also extend to Operators as they now have an option to lower their subscriber acquisition cost and the flexibility to expand their service offerings for diverse market segments.
It has to be highlighted that being cost-effective does not mean that the performance of the new modems is compromised in any way. The cost-effective range is still fully geared towards the delivery of high quality wireless broadband through the little attention to detail we put in that makes a huge difference. For example, WiMAX Forum specifies a level of receiver sensitivity and Greenpacket’s EX modems surpasses that mark by 7.5dBm.
2. What market segment are you targeting with the release of these new modems?
The EX range is targeted at Operators requiring basic modems as the cost for it is effective in reducing their OPEX for mass WiMAX rollout. This includes the pre-paid market segment for residential use. The EX range would also allow Operators to create packages that are price sensitive or create a wider range of packages to suit different connectivity needs of their customers.
3. Can you highlight the new features and capabilities of your latest modem?
Featuring data and voice ports, the EX series deliver superior indoor performance. This is possible via a high gain antenna which improves the reception of WiMAX signals, multi-directional omni antenna which allows flexibility of device placement and, Switched … Read the rest
The WiMAX Forum appointed Frank Farjood as their new Chief Operating Officer. Oksana Davis became the Corporate Secretary and was appointed to General Counsel. These two individuals will be located in the new San Diego office.
Farjood will be the day-to-day manager for the WiMAX Forum, overseeing the operational, tactical and strategic objectives for the WiMAX Forum. Farjood served as the vice president of global professional services at Nortel Networks. He spent 13 years with Lucent Technologies managing wireless system deployments.
“We are fortunate to have Frank as our COO,” said Ronald Resnick, President and Chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “Frank’s background in the telecom and wireless industry, coupled with his disciplined approach to execution makes him a perfect fit for the Forum.”
Davis will advise the Board of Directors on legal and corporate matters. Davis practiced law with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, specializing in business, technology and corporate matters.
It’s an infusion of new blood into the WiMAX Forum. Both appointed officers have plenty of experience in the wireless sector. The WiMAX Forum will continue to expand and oversea the deployment of WiMAX networks worldwide, along with certifying the latest WiMAX-enabled devices.… Read the rest
The WiMAX Forum Congress Asia is upon the WiMAX world. Top industry insiders, along with media members, will gather in Taipei, Taiwan from April 12-14 to discuss a variety of WiMAX topics that matter to the Asia Pacific region.
Taiwan became an important WiMAX market in the last few months. Far EastTone, Tatung Infocomm and VMAX all have networks, mostly focused in Taipei and Hsinchu City. It’s the technology corridor in the country. Representatives from BSNL and other operators, including Tata Communications will discuss how WiMAX will be adopted in that country.
54 speakers will talk on a variety of topics, representing 24 operators from 15 countries. Attendees will be able to chat and connect with over 1,400 WiMAX professionals. Speakers will discuss the money-making WiMAX business model, how WiMAX can expand in the Asia Pacific region and spectrum and licensing can stimulate broadband, extending to stimulate the economy of an entire country. This is a concern for most operators world wide. The increase in smart phones means operators have to use more spectrum space for data usage.
Announcements will be coming from some of the top companies. Beceem Communications, the chip set maker already made two announcements about partnering for a new USB modem platform and market-ready USB device. There’s going to be announcements from other top WiMAX players, including GreenPacket and maybe a few other surprises. You’ll have to look for daily updates from GoingWiMAX.com to see what’s the news coming from WiMAX Forum Congress Asia 2010.
Events like this and other events held by the WiMAX Forum give industrialists and regular enthusiasts to meet the people that make the decisions that affect high speed wireless broadband. This one is for those in the Asia Pacific region. The APAC region is probably the fastest growing market for WiMAX. There’s several markets in Australia, New Zealand, India and Taiwan. The WiMAX Forum hosts events all over the world over the course of a year. The WiMAX Forum Global Congress is happening in June in Amsterdam.… Read the rest
The WiMAX Forum began an initiative to speed up WiMAX features based on it’s initial release. Certified products expected to use these enhancements should be in market towards the end of 2010.
WiMAX providers give users and owners a large amount of data, with some networks delivering over 10 GBs per month to the normal user. The WiMAX Forum understands the operator’s need for more advanced technologies as network use expands and the need for more data space grows.
“With the global demand for 4G wireless broadband services experiencing explosive growth, WiMAX service providers need faster networks with greater capacity and efficiency, and the WiMAX community has responded,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “There is no country where this demand is as pronounced as it is in India, where there is less than three percent broadband penetration. WiMAX can address this demand as well as the growing needs around the globe, plus we’re committed to taking performance to the next level in an unmatched timeframe.”
The improvements include additional MIMO antennae on base stations, higher order of modulation on uplink, downlink beamforming and improved fractional frequency reuse. This will increase the reuse 1 deployments while ensuring multi-vendor interoperability. The features should double peak data rates and increase average and cell edge end user performance by up to 50 percent.
WiMAX Forum is also working on the IEEE Standard 802.16m later this year. It’s WiMAX 2.0, which means that the next version of WiMAX could be seen by the end of 2010. They are also preparing certification standards for WiMAX 2.0 products, with release by late 2011.
It’s good to stay ahead of the data crunch that some operators may face with the increase in subscribers. The WiMAX Forum does a great job of leading the industry by standardizing requirements for the technology. They continue to help foster and grow both the network market, along with certifying products and devices.… Read the rest
Tatung InfoComm, Ministry of Economic Affairs, will apply to establish an operator interoperability testing laboratory in Taiwan. It must submit the request to the WiMAX Forum.
Two laboratories are set up in Taiwan to certify products where the devices still must be sent to an OIOT lab for end-to-end interoperability testing before selling to WiMAX operators.
The only OIOT lab set up and approved by the WiMAX Forum was for Clearwire. Taiwan device makers account for 90 percent of the global CPE market, making $282.47 million worth of WiMAX CPE products in 2009. Shipping is expected to grow 86.8 percent in 2010. The OIOT will decrease expenses for device makers by decreasing shipping costs.
Photo Courtesy of Arthur Chapman via Flickr… Read the rest
