There was a flurry of WiMax events last week, which definitely were positive for a wider uptake of the technology. WiMax got quite a bit of attention at 3GSM, partly because of the high throughputs it can offer (15 Mbps, which is comparable to HSDPA). Despite that, most of the talks focused on WiMax as an alternative for fixed line broadband, emphasizing that the opportunities lie mostly in rural markets (with WiMax being used instead of ADSL buildouts). Here are a few announcements:
- Alcatel and Intel announced that they will jointly develop WiMax products based on the WiMax mobile spec (IEEE 802.16e) in mid-2006. Alcatel already sells fixed WiMax (802.16d) products from Alvarion. Alcatel plans to price the technology to consumers somewhere between DSL and 3G.
- T-Mobile introduced WiMax net access for UK trains, relying on the technology as a way to uplink to the Internet. WiMax allows T-Mobile users with Wi-Fi access to get Internet access on the go by sharing the 32 Mbps WiMax connection, which should be plenty for a large number of concurrent riders.
- In Malaysia, a number of equipment manufacturers are already trialing handsets that use mobile WiMax and other new wireless technologies, with commercial launches expected within less than year.
- Cisco is paying more attention to WiMax
- Sprint has joined the WiMax Forum
Hopefully, some of the WiMax skeptics will start seeing the glass half full rather than half empty
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