Equipment vendors are trying to convince mobile operators to spend money upgrading their networks to deliver faster Internet access, with two technologies battling for the bucks: LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMax. However in the short term the winner could be an intermediate technology, HSPA+, as operators look for ways to wring more out of their existing networks with less capital outlay than LTE requires.
Supporters of rival technologies WiMax and LTE (Long Term Evolution) will do their best to show momentum behind their respective technologies at Mobile World Congress.
Nortel Networks is dropping out of the mobile WiMax business entirely and will end an agreement with Israeli-company Alvarion to resell Alvarion mobile Wimax gear.
After selling them for just a few months, Nokia has decided to stop making its N810 WiMax Edition handheld computer.
Financial charges taken by both Intel and Time Warner Cable on Wednesday put the spotlight on the tough prospects for Clearwire, the company that aims to build a nation-wide US mobile broadband network using WiMax technology.
ASX-listed wireless broadband provider, BigAir (ASX:BGL), has taken its WiMax network services to Perth and will announce new customer wins shortly.
The market for WiMax is predicted to decline in 2009, as mobile WiMax is hit both by the economic squeeze and competition from the LTE standard for 4G networks, according to an analyst report.
Wireless users in the US city of Baltimore are standing politely in line to sign up for just launched Sprint WiMax service, called XOHM, pronounced "zohm," at slightly better than the expected rate, according to Sprint executives.
EServGlobal Limited (ASX:ESV) has forged a partnership with SunTec that will see the companies collaborate to deign a convergent billing solution for WiMAX providers.
Even after Monday's stock market drop in the US and a general tightening in the financial sector, WiMax equipment makers and wireless operators at WiMax World remain optimistic.
Intel's next-generation WiMax module, called Evans Peak, is on display at this week's Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan. Due to hit the market as part of the Moorestown chip platform next year, Evans Peak will support more WiMax profiles than Intel's current chipset and add support for Bluetooth and GPS.
The future of broadband networking at Japan's NEC is clear. The company's WiMax operations far outpace its work in the telecommunications industry's mobile broadband standard, LTE (long term evolution).
Sprint Nextel has signed on several companies to help deliver location-based services for its impending WiMAX launch.
The certification process for WiMax devices will allow vendors to get new products out to mobile broadband users in one-third the time it takes to put a phone on a carrier's 3G network, Intel said last week at its developer conference.
Intel plans to extend the frequency ranges supported by its WiMax chipset next year beyond the 2.5GHz profile, according to a company executive.