Features

The WiMAX Gauntlet

By Priya George

The Sprint initiative with WiMAX is expected to usher in a new era of competition in the telecommunication industry. WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access by the WiMAX Forum, formed in April 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard IEEE 802.16, also known as WirelessMAN. The Forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL. WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles".

Analysts have waved a caution flag stating that equipment shipments aren't likely to reach tens of millions of units a year until after 2010. Stephen Entwhistle, vice president of the Strategic Technologies Practice at Strategy Analytics, said that WiMAX coverage has begun to garner attention following certification of the wide area wireless technology.

"WiMAX equipment suppliers and chip makers face a much less uncertain future," said Entwhistle in a statement. "Even so, most remain cautious." The market research firm indicated that recovery of product development costs would likely be problematic for companies competing in the WiMAX components arena.

Even so, many companies are undeterred by such warning and have gone ahead to implement WiMAX capabilities in their product lines. For instance, MobiTV, which is currently delivering video services to over one million mobile subscribers, has announced its official support for the WiMAX standard. The company said it has been investing in research and technology development to support the latest wireless network standards and that it is now committed to deploying advanced mobile television and media delivery services over WiMAX networks.

Building an Ecosystem of Equipment Makers around WiMAX

Wireless operator Sprint Nextel is planning to unveil new broadband services over the next few years with WiMAX backed by Intel (INTC). SprintNextel will use WiMAX technology to build its G4 WiFi Network. The price range would vary between USD 1 and USD 4 billion, experts at The Wall Street Journal have been quoted as saying. Sprint executives have been experimenting with various technology options that would allow users to access the Internet while on the move, including technology from Flarion, a company now owned by Qualcomm (QCOM). But they finally settles upon using WiMAX.

The network, which will be unveiled by the fourth quarter, will offer downstream speeds of two megabits per second (mbps) to four mbps, Sprint said. Partners Intel, Motorola, and Samsung Electronics plan to help by equipping notebook PCs and a variety of mobile devices to use the 4G networks.
Sprint Nextel’s choice of WiMAX is the first endorsement of the metropolitan-area wireless data system. Sprint's union with WiMAX along with its hardware partners will have a far-reaching impact globally, according to IDC analyst Shiv Bakhshi. The carrier said it chose WiMAX because it believes it could build an ecosystem of equipment makers around the technology, which is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard.

"That will create an ecosystem, trust me," Bakhshi said. Motorola and Samsung's position in the mobile device market, along with Intel's marketing power, will help make this a turning point for WiMAX, he said. " WiMAX was in need of a major player signing on to it," he said, adding that Sprint's deployment will become a showcase to the rest of the world.

Backers of WiMAX, especially Intel, have pushed it as a standards-based technology that will get less expensive as manufacturing volumes grow. Sprint said it plans to spend USD 1 billion this year and USD 1.5 billion to USD 2 billion next year on 4G.

Connect Your iPod Anywhere

The company's coverage will not be available before 2008. It aims to offer broadband service to people not just in their homes, but also on the road. "Our vision is about creating an Internet everywhere experience," Atish Gude, Sprint's senior vice-president of strategy, said in an interview. "It will be a life-changing event for the customer to have control and connectivity." The "ability to enable the iPod to connect anywhere, anytime is a very powerful concept," Gude says. "We're not creating new trends but we're enabling them in a different way," Gude explains.

Sprint has to act fast as a host of new competitors have similar ideas in mind. Craig McCaw's Clearwire has already decided to roll out WiMAX in the U.S. Satellite companies such as DirecTV and Echostar's Dish Network are also considering adopting WiMAX. Sprint has "talked several times about time to market, which suggests they don't want to sit on their hands and wait," says one Wall Street analyst.

Sprint risks falling behind as the company is battling with wireless rivals, particularly Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless. In addition, it has lost ground in the competition for traditional mobile phone customers. On the other hand, Verizon Wireless is quickly rolling out its own mobile wireless Internet service.

Intel, the supplier of WiMAX chips sees a potential business venture if Clearwire and Sprint could partner, or sign roaming agreements, to have a nationwide wireless broadband network up and running in just a few years. The deal would leave Qualcomm out of the game now. Executives at Intel and Motorola (MOT), which builds WiMAX infrastructure, believe that WiMAX offers better bandwidth for delivering massive amounts of data. Motorola executives, in fact, are confident that WiMAX will win the lion’s share in the market.

Countries such as Mexicohave also been hit by the WiMAX bug, with Ultranet2go announcing that it has covered a large chunk of the country with the mobile broadband wireless service. Using Navini Networks' Ripwave MX gear, the company says that some 3.2 million Points of Presence (POPs) will be covered once the rollout is complete, encompassing areas from Puebla to Veracruz to Aguascalientes. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any word on what the service will actually cost. Intel, Vietnam Data Communication (VDC) and USAID are cooperating to run an eight-month WiMAX pilot in northern Lao Cai province from July as part of a drive to bring technology to rural areas as well.

WiMAX on the Train

WiMAX has also knocked on the door of WiFi trains, bringing the Internet to those lucky commuters. Caltrain, the train operator that handles the commuter rail from San Francisco down through San Jose, has hooked up 16 miles of their track between Millbrae and Palo Alto. Caltrain used the WiMAX backbone from Redline Communications, connectivity from Nomad Digital, and in-train WiFi routers from Sensoria Corp. to provide speedy connections to commuters while traveling at 79 mph.

"The WiMAX Forum is fervent in its belief that delivering mobile Internet services will be the key to connecting the world", said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “Sprint Nextel joins other operators in U.S., Korea and Japan that selected mobile WiMAX because of advantages in performance, cost, flexibility and innovation crucial in maintaining a leading position in their markets,” Resnick continued. “More and more, operators worldwide view mobile WiMAX as a natural complement to existing mobile and wireline networks and the most effective way to deliver bandwidth intensive and real-time applications on notebooks and other mobile devices.”

WiMAX on the Radio

WiMAX is part of Nokia's radio access technology portfolio and a technology for the company's broadband wireless access group as well. Nokia sent out congratulations to Sprint Nextel for selecting to deploy WiMAX networks in the 2.5 GHz spectrum band. Currently Nokia is positioned to provide an end-to-end WiMAX solution and perhaps this may be the beginning of newfound revenue stream for Sprint Nextel. The support of Nokia, which has not always been a WiMAX believer, shows that the world's biggest mobile phone maker and one of the leading wireless networks makers also sees a future in this technology.

WiMAX is expected to enable broadband speeds over wireless networks at a cost that will enable mass-market adoption. There is a substantial unmet need for high-speed wireless wide area Internet access to both fixed and mobile devices. Intel believes that WiMAX, with its technical and economic advantages, should help enable mainstream adoption of personal broadband. Intel envisions a world of pervasive connectivity for all with WiMAX.

WiMAX Adoption in the Asia Pacific Region

"No APAC service provider can ignore WiMAX," says Victor Liu, In-Stat analyst. "Providers need either to evaluate the possibility of adding WiMAX to their existing services portfolio, or to assess the competitive pressure from other WiMAX service providers."

According to Frost and Sullivan , WiMAX has been widely accepted in the APAC region compared with Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). The firm said that while BWA has not been able to make remarkable progress due to lack of standardization and poor interoperability, WiMAX has generated much interest as the next evolutionary data-voice enabler.

"In the Asia Pacific region, the ratification of the WiMAX standards and the increased activities surrounding BWA spectrum allocation during 2005 and 2006 have resulted in the emergence of WiMAX," notes the analyst of this study. "A BWA evolution, WiMAX is poised to cause a major upheaval in the telecommunications industry."

The Long Wait for WiMAX

Indeed, it will be at least a couple of years before Sprint's technology, or any other form of mobile broadband, finds its way into consumers' hands. "One of the real problems is that most of these technologies aren't ready yet," says Matt Desch a telecom veteran and former member of Flarion's board of directors. "WiMax has lot of potential, but it is years away from market readiness," he says.


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