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Mobile
WiMAX Competitive Environment Intensifies
Times are tough for WiMAX vendors right now as far as the mobile
wireless multi-billion dollar pie is concerned. Recent announcements by Sprint
Wireless regarding difficulties in financing its mobile WiMAX build out may not
be the most surprising news but its starting to chip away at the idea that the
mobile world is the Holy Grail for WiMAX vendors.
In a vast change from 2007, WiMAX advocates now find themselves competing with standards being finalized and offered up by two distinct large wireless, software and processor industry groups, 3GPP and 3GPP2, which will offer standards with equal or even better performance than the WiMAX standard. These same technologies, in some cases, will also have the advantages of being built to the great economy of scales the mobile wireless world offers and are also being pushed forward with the utilization of advanced features, such as MIMO.
Carriers such Vodafone, DoCoMo and Verizon are actively testing several next generation 4G platforms and technologies already while others are closely observing LTE and UMB developments and WiMAX deployments. This is very different from a few years ago when the WiMAX community mostly had to convincingly compare WiMAX gear to equipment based on early 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications. Today real 802.16e equipment must compete against UMB, HSPA+, EV-DO Rev B, and LTE prototypes that are being seen by almost everyone.
The WiMAX Future
Is WiMAX done? No. Most WiMAX deployments are in the 3.5 GHz
band where they are used for cable/DSL replacement. Mobile vendors rarely
address these bands, with the notable exception of Nextwave. Moreover, 802.16m,
the sequel to 802.16e, is being designed from scratch as a mobile IMT-advanced
system. It remedies many of the limitations of 802.16e and it should offer
capabilities that are on par with UMB and LTE and product should be ready by
2011 when 4G deployments will start in earnest.
What will change is a large and sweeping deployment of WiMAX by aggressive and virgin carriers such as Sprint and KDDI venture, Wireless Broadband Planning K.K. WiMAX has lost its time to market advantage and we can now expect supporters of the 3GPP and 3GPP2 platforms to start chipping away at public perception that WiMAX vendors have the real high-speed mobile market to themselves. And, as this perception is changing, operators will be looking at all the new options.
© 2008, Visant Strategies