Wimax Forum in Prague (September)

In September, I had the chance to attend the WiMax Forum in Prague. Although a little late, I just wanted to post my notes/observations regarding the event, its participants, and its news:

- There have been several deployments that have been successful with pre-wimax equipment (Korea, Irish Broadband, and Clearwire)
- Still many concerns about ability for WiMax to differentiate itself amongst competing technologies (UMTS/HSDPA and WiFi).
- Seen by many as a xDSL replacement for those in areas outside of reach.
- Korea most innovative by far in service offerings and technology, with Samsung leading the way and providing test bed for several networks.
- Many equipment vendors (but many with pre-standard offerings, many half-baked)
- Although the interest of the forums steered towards 802.16e (mobile), many of the successful deployments were 802.16d, with Korea’s WiBro being the exception (WiBro is very similar to 802.16e, but not enitirely alike).
- Spectrum availability for WiMax services is still not clear in every country, may pose roaming challenges in the future.
- 802.16d equipment will not be migratable to 802.16e equipment because of technical differences.
- MIMO, AAS, and other antenna or RF pattern technologies can help WiMax increase throughput, but also increase system complexity and cost. Samsung claims to have MIMO deployed in their WiBro deployment.
- Spectral efficiency of Wimax is better than competing technologies – good for limited spectrum

Conclusions:

1) 802.16d will be a wireline alternative for those customers outside of reach of traditional broadband solutions
2) 802.16e will continue to be explored by carriers that are either new entrants into the wireless telecom market or those carriers that can not find adequate migration paths for their current wireless technology (Sprint/Nextel in the USA)
3) Equipment vendors are not there, there is still much debate about whether to put together pre-standard equipment, and whether or not some equipment can be migrated onto standards once complete.
4) Alvarion, Navini, and Samsung seem to be leading the way when it comes to pre-standard releases.

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