Intel adjusts WiMAX plans to coincide with Sprint 2008 launch

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 – 11:11 am

The only surprise at last week’s Intel Centrino 2 processor launch was the delayed availability of the company’s Echo Peak WiMAX module paired with the new processor family. The fifth-generation Centrino platform (codenamed Montevina during development and renamed “Centrino 2” for production) had already slipped from a June launch at Computex Taiwan to a mid-July unveiling due to graphics and regulatory paperwork snafus. Intel representatives stated that WiMAX support would emerge later in the year to coincide with the availability of mobile WiMAX services from U.S. operators Clearwire and Sprint Nextel.

The WiMAX module delay is the latest hiccup in Intel’s plans for WiMAX to enjoy the attach rate that Wi-Fi received from the original Centrino program. Glitches in Montevina’s on-board graphics chipset and paperwork errors in the regulatory filings for wireless antennas with the FCC and Industry Canada pushed out the Centrino 2 launch. Sprint compounded the WiMAX delay in April when it announced that the XOHM service launch using WiMAX technologies wouldn’t occur until later in the year. The XOHM program has been reset for September amid the formation of a partnership with Craig McCaw’s Clearwire, Google, Intel and multiple cable operators to launch a nationwide mobile broadband network in advance of 3GPP’s Long Term Evolution by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Alltel.

The complete article about Intel’s WiMAX delay can be found as part of the Maravedis analyst newsletter.

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ELRO and ECI plan Danish WiMAX network

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 3:08 pm

ECI Telecom announced it has entered into a 3-year framework agreement with ELRO of Denmark. ECI Telecom provides network infrastructure to carriers and service providers. ECI will integrate its XDM and Broadgate Multi-Service Provisioning Platforms with wireless equipment from Alvarion and Ceragon Networks. ELRO is Denmark’s utilities company.

ELRO was granted a spectrum license in 2007 for WiMAX operations. At the end of 2007, ELRO launched first services around the city of Randers where the provider has already passed 5,000 subscribers. The addition of services from ECI Telecom will accelerate WiMAX deployment with nationwide coverage anticipated by 2010. ELRO has a “use it or lose it” clause in its spectrum license and must demonstrate nationwide coverage in that timeframe.

Deployments of Mobile WiMAX in Denmark are discussed in more detail at WiMax.com

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NDT to deploy WiMAX across Italy

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 3:06 pm

Newport Digital Technologies (NDT) announced an agreement to deploy fixed and mobile WiMAX base stations across Northern Italy. The customer will use infrastructure radios from Taiwan’s Institute of Information Industry (III) based on the 802.16-2004 and 802.16e-2005 standards. NDT had announced the Italian network plans in May as part of an announcement for WiMAX deployment on the islands of Fiji.

NDT is a subsidiary of International Food Products Group. The company also distributes III’s low-cost notebook PC in the Americas and South Pacific. “We have already shipped 500 base stations this past quarter,” said Richard Damion, CEO of NDT. “We anticipate another record quarter as we expand our operations in Italy to $1-million US per month from August and start our shipments to Poland and Fiji in September. We anticipate generating revenues in excess of $75-million US during the next fiscal year.”

Additional details about WiMAX in Northern Italy can be found at WiMax.com

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Maynooth launches mobile WiMAX network

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 3:03 pm

National University of Ireland, Maynooth has selected Alcatel-Lucent to launch the first mobile WiMAX (802.16e-2005) network service in Ireland. The project is funded by the Centre for Telecommunications Value Chain Research (CTVR) and provides NUI Maynooth staff, 6,000 students and other Irish researchers “always-on” broadband services.

Alcatel-Lucent is providing the university with infrastructure base stations, access controllers, and an operation and maintenance center along with the services necessary to design, deploy and maintain the network. Voice over IP (VoIP) and mobile, high-speed data services such as DVD-quality streaming video, fast downloads of very large files as well as video-conferencing are expected to draw users to the network. Remote access to the university’s network will be available for off-campus students. Network coverage is planned for facilities located as far as 20 kilometers from the campus.

Additional information about the Irish WiMAX network can be found at WiMax.com

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BWA market surpasses the 2 million mark

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 3:01 pm

The broadband wireless access (BWA) market was rapidly approaching the two million subscriber mark at the end of March 2008, according to market research firm Maravedis. Subscribers to broadband wireless services grew over 260,000 during the first three months of the year, which would have seen the 2 million mark surpassed during the first week of April. The online service tracks BWA and WiMAX operators.

U.S. wireless ISP Clearwire remains the largest provider of BWA services in the world with 433,000 subscribers. 802.16-based WiMAX radios are not part of Clearwire’s commercial offering yet, so the figure reflects only the use of proprietary Motorola equipment. Commercially available services make up the majority of BWA and WiMAX networks (planned launches, trials and idle spectrum are the other categories). About 75% of those networks use 802.16 standards, while the balance utilizes proprietary equipment.

More BWA and WiMAX market stats can be found at WiMax.com

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Huawei wins in Pakistan and Malaysia

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 2:59 pm

Huawei Technologies of China announced a pair of mobile WiMAX wins this week. The equipment manufacturer will supply 802.16e-2005 network infrastructure to Mobilink of Pakistan and Asiaspace of Malaysia. As a result of the new customer projects, Huawei claims 19 overseas commercial WiMAX contracts.

Mobilink is the largest GSM operator in Pakistan and a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom. The network will be deployed to central business districts and hot spots including the cities of Faisalabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Sialkot. Huawei will provide a solution consisting of base stations, Access Service Network (ASN) gateways, and network management system. Work began late last year on the backhaul build-out of 270 wireless links from Canada’s DragonWave Inc. Pakistan also has a significant nationwide network under development from Wateen. The Warid Telecom company announced that it had ordered 198,000 CPE based on the 802.16e-2005 standard from Motorola last year.

The balance of this Huawei article about WiMAX wins in Pakistan and Malaysia is available at WiMax.com

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Germany’s Bavarian region to get WiMAX

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 – 2:56 pm

Proxim Wireless announced that telecommunications provider Televersa Online of Bavaria, Germany, has chosen the company’s Tsunami MP.16 WiMAX products to build its fixed WiMAX network. Televersa recently acquired a 3.5 GHz broadband wireless access license for the network. Televersa Online has already deployed proprietary Tsunami MP.11 multipoint base stations and subscriber units for its wireless “viaAIR” service.

Televersa Online was the first regional telephone company in South East Bavaria and offers broadband services over DSL, unlicensed broadband wireless, and now WiMAX. The region has a population of 2.5 million people and covers approximately 20,000 square kilometers (12,400 square miles) from Munich Airport to the Czech and Austrian borders. While Bavaria is Germany’s largest geographical state, the area served by Televersa Online is mostly rural.

More about Proxim’s WiMAX deployment in Germany’s Bavarian region can be found at WiMax.com

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Korea Readies Second WiBro Wave

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 – 8:02 am

Amid lackluster subscriber numbers and limited network coverage, South Korea’s WiBro service is planning a resurgence. The WiBro launch in June 2006 served as the prototype for 802.16e-2005 networks. A revision to infrastructure and devices is in the works to improve network performance and coverage, conforming to the WiMAX Forum Wave 2 certification requirements. Mobile broadband adoption in Korea hasn’t been stellar. While Samsung executives we spoke with point out that the WiMAX service is outpacing the country’s W-CDMA adoption from years earlier, the numbers remain small for the broadband savvy country. Will the migration to Wave 2 WiMAX equipment be the catalyst for mobile broadband in South Korea?

WiBro services have been the exclusive playground of two operators: Korea Telecom (KT) and SK Telecom. That is unlikely to change in the near future, as the pair have the only licenses available in the allocated 2.3 GHz frequency band. KT took an early lead in WiBro and has maintained that over the first two years. Infrastructure build-out was awarded to Samsung, while subscriber devices were qualified from a number of sources. During the second half of 2007, the operator started filling in Seoul coverage gaps with micro and pico cell stations from Korean suppliers. As of Q1’2008, the operator surpassed 145,000 subscribers, according to Maravedis service WiMAXCounts. Around 80% of KT subscribers use the service for non-business purposes at an ARPU of 22,500 won (US$21.63). Subscriber devices for KT users are primarily computer peripherals though handsets and embedded laptops have diversified the mix in the last year.

The complete article about preparations for the second wave of mobile WiMAX in South Korea is available online at Maravedis

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DigitalBridge Communications first with WiMAX Forum Certified gear in U.S.

Saturday, July 5th, 2008 – 2:12 pm

DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a wireless ISP in the United States, has launched the first commercial Mobile WiMAX network using WiMAX Forum Certified 802.16e equipment in the U.S. with service in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The new mobile capability enhances its BridgeMAXX fixed high-speed wireless Internet service.

The service uses Alvarion’s BreezeMAX 2.5 GHz base station, which recently received the WiMAX Forum Certified mark for equipment based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard for mobile broadband. The certification assures network operators that infrastructure and devices carrying the logo are interoperable with each other and enabling equipment purchase from multiple vendors. The Wyoming network will offer Alvarion’s CPE modems and 4Motion peripherals, which have yet to be certified. DBC is Alvarion’s largest U.S. customer.

More about the DigitalBridge launch of WiMAX services in Jackson Hole can be found at WiMax.com

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South Korea prepares for WiBro Wave 2

Saturday, July 5th, 2008 – 2:08 pm

First and fastest is not enough for broadband-savvy South Korea. The country’s WiBro service, based on 802.16e-2005 mobile WiMAX, is preparing for a boost in performance later this year that is expected to keep the service at the leading edge of mobile broadband. WiBro services first launched in mid-2006 as three operators sought to translate the experience of home and office broadband services to anytime and anywhere (called 4G). The networks are considered the first case study for the mobile WiMAX movement.

Two years after the first commercial services were launched, it’s still debated if WiBro is a success or not. Hanaro Telecom, one of the original license holders, surrendered its spectrum allocation leaving Korea Telecom (KT) and SK Telecom as the lone providers. SK Telecom focused initial network coverage in subsets of the metropolitan Seoul market, such as college campuses. This resulted in an uptake of only 2,000 subscribers. KT has had a more ambitious plan of blanketing Seoul in WiBro then expanding along the motorways and mass transit routes. Subscribers for WiBro today have surpassed 200,000 users, which pale in comparison to Korea’s mobile phone users or wired broadband customer base. Industry executives point out that WiBro is experiencing a faster rate of adoption in Korea than the cellular W-CDMA protocol did on its two-year anniversary.

More about the WiBro service and WiMAX Forum certification profiles can be found at WiMax.com

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US cable companies to offer WiMAX femtocells

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 – 2:51 pm

The largest form of residential broadband internet access in the United States occur using cable modems followed by DSL services and wireless. Cable operators are synonymous with bundled offers of Internet, home phone, and television services. Mobility is the perceived gap in their portfolio. The recent announcement by Sprint and Clearwire forming a mobile WiMAX joint venture could be the entry point that cable operators are looking for. The WiMAX partnership includes investments from cable operators Bright House Networks, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable amongst others.

Dave Williams, senior VP of wireless and technology for Comcast, provided insight into the company’s mobility plans at Femtocells Europe 2008 this week. He revealed that 5 MHz of the spectrum owned by the new Clearwire is made available to the consortium partners to deploy in-home femtocell services. What is a femtocell? A femtocell is a miniature base station about the size of a backpack or even a desktop modem. Unlike the big antennas associated with base stations that cover one or more kilometers, femtocells have a range of tens of meters (hundreds of feet). Femtocells have become a topic of increasing interest in the cellular voice market to fill in coverage holes that exist inside homes and offices.

WiMAX femtocells as a market entry for cable operators is discussed further at WiMax.com

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Aperto adds Mobile WiMAX and announces 3.65 GHz win

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 – 2:48 pm

Aperto Networks added a line of 802.16e-2005 WiMAX products to its offering and announced that California-based NextPhase Wireless has selected its 3.65 GHz products for WiMAX services in Southern California. The equipment manufacturer used the WiMAX Global Congress in Amsterdam last week to unveil a modular base station along with a series of modems and CPE based on the 802.16e-2005 standard. Traditionally a fixed wireless provider, Aperto placed its hat into the mobile ring. In addition, the company has partnered with wireless ISP NextPhase Wireless to begin canvassing the U.S. countryside with WiMAX signals for home and business broadband services in underserved markets.

The workhorse of the new product line is the PacketMAX 4000 modular base station. With support for one to four sectors and smart antennas techniques, including STC, MRC, and 2×2 or 4×4 MIMO, the new base station meets or exceeds the requirements for Wave 2 gear set forth by WiMAX Forum. The system also supports the three frequency band profiles established by the industry consortium - 2.3, 2.5, and 3.5 GHz.

More about Aperto’s 802.16e-2005 product line announcement and 3.65 GHz win can be found at WiMax.com

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Sprint Xohm service to launch in September

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 – 2:44 pm

The city of Baltimore, Maryland will be the first to offer commercial mobile WiMAX service on the Sprint Xohm network. The announcement of September service was made by business unit president Barry West during last week’s WiMAX Global Congress in Amsterdam. Washington DC and Chicago are expected to join Baltimore during the last three months of the year as the first cities with Xohm service. The Charm City ranks 20th on the US list of largest metropolitan areas.

Initial products at launch in Baltimore were confirmed to include embedded WiMAX laptops using Intel chipsets, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition, a Samsung PC Card, a ZTE USB dongle and a ZyXEL CPE modem. Other vendors and products are expected to be approved by Sprint for use on the network and enter commercial availability in the future.

More about the Xohm launch can be found at WiMax.com

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Nth Air takes 3.65 GHz WiMAX to the Nth degree

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 – 2:30 pm

Internet service provider Nth Air took center stage at the Broadband Wireless Pavilion in this week’s NXTcomm08 conference with the company’s launch of WiMAX services to Las Vegas. The California-based provider of business-class wireless services announced a partnership with Fujitsu Network Communications to roll-out fixed WiMAX using the recently allocated 3.65 GHz spectrum available in the United States. Nth Air currently offers wireless broadband services in the greater San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

The company chose Fujitsu as its supplier of WiMAX equipment and managed services. Fujitsu announced a supply agreement earlier this year with Airspan to resell its gear, including the 3.65 GHz WiMAX line. Airspan’s familiar space saucer CPE design was on-hand for the Vegas premiere. In addition, Fujitsu is providing a package of managed services to Nth Air that range from RF engineering to site acquisition. Establishing a turnkey solution for 3.65 GHz will enable the service provider to replicate market roll-outs in underserved communities using a proven network recipe and partner, says Nth Air CEO Craig Niemeyer.

More about Nth Air’s plans for nationwide WiMAX services at WiMax.com

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Can one 4G standard drive the future of mobile broadband?

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 – 2:28 pm

During the final GSM World Congress in 2007, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin used his keynote address to warn cellular technology providers that WiMAX was making in-roads and the cellular industry needed to quicken development of competing solutions. In February, the executive augmented his message (at the same event now called Mobile World Congress 2008) to call for WiMAX and 3GPP’s LTE (Long Term Evolution) technologies to merge into a single 3GPP project. Sprint’s Barry West responded during the WCAI conference in April to Sarin’s suggestion that LTE should be merged into WiMAX, since LTE doesn’t exist yet and WiMAX is available in many countries today.

The 3GPP Release 8 specification containing LTE isn’t slated for completion until end of 2008. Standards development organizations have waged this posturing battle for many years between developments that are led by either European or American constituents. Most are familiar with the Wi-Fi standards that evolved from the IEEE’s 802.11 standards effort. The 802.11 protocols won market favor over the HiperLAN program from ETSI. Uniquely, IEEE 802.16e-2005 and the ETSI HiperMAN equivalent are identical, harmonized standards approved by both camps. And did I mention that 3GPP is an ETSI program?

Intel has chimed in too. Read about their perspective on merging 4G standards at WiMax.com

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