WiMAX

Metric: Mobile capex will reach $163.5B in 2013

Sue Marek — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:17:25 -0400

Although North America's mobile capital expenditures will likely remain flat this year, globally CAPEX investment will rise from more than $113 billion in 2007 to $163.5 billion in 2013, according to ABI Research. In the Asia-Pacific region, that growth will primarily be driven by markets that are expanding current 2G footprints and new 3G rollouts. In North America, look for carriers to be spending on 3G upgrades to HSDPA/HSPA and EVDO Rev. A, as well as activities around mobile WiMAX.

ABI researchers say that currently most of the CAPEX is still going to voice services and 2G networks expansion. However that will change. "CAPEX for data services will surpass that for voice sometime in 2009 as 4G starts to arrive," says Hwai Lin Khor, analyst with ABI. By 2013, the firm expects 28 percent of CAPEX spending to be for voice, 67 percent for data and 5 percent for mobile TV.

For more:
- see this release

Related story:
Carrier capex hits $225 billion

Research firm blasts mobile WiMAX

Sue Marek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:15:18 -0400

Research firm Frost & Sullivan says that unless spectrum auctions and commercial mobile WiMAX rollouts (compliant to Wave 2 Phase 2 certification) gather momentum before the end of this year, the market for the broadband wireless technology will be insignificant. However, the firm also says that the work carried out on mobile WiMAX has the potential to spur new ventures, which could potentially lead to the merger of mobile WiMAX with 3G LTE. Article

Comcast will use WiMAX Femtocells

Sue Marek — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:47:11 -0400

At a conference in London, Comcast's senior vice president of wireless and technology Dave Williams revealed that part of the cable company's deal with Clearwire calls for 5 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. to be set aside solely for WiMAX femtocells. Williams said that Comcast would have liked to have more spectrum for femtocells but that this was the best deal it could negotiate.

The femtocell spectrum will be available for any of the new Clearwire partners to use, but Williams said that the cable companies will have the most incentive to use it because it allows them to cost-effectively deliver wireless to the home.

Cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks were part of the consortium (which includes Google and Intel) that invested $3.2 billion in the new Clearwire. The cable companies plan to wholesale WiMAX services via Clearwire to their customers.

For more:
- See this Light Reading story

Related stories:
Seybold: The New Clearwire--Will it succeed?
Introducing the 'new' Clearwire
Clearwire expects 30 million subs by 2017

Sprint: Baltimore gets commercial WiMAX in Sept.

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:59:55 -0400

Speaking at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam, Sprint Nextel CTO and president of the company's Xohm WiMAX business, said its first commercial WiMAX service will go live in September in Baltimore ahead of its merger with Clearwire. Commercial service in Chicago and Washington, DC will follow in the fourth quarter. The announcement isn't surprising given the fact that these markets were soft launched earlier this year.

West said that more than 575 WiMAX base station sites are operating and a number of devices are moving through its testing labs. "It's the only [communications] technology I know where the chipset evolution for devices is going faster than the infrastructure," he said. West told telecoms.com that the devices available at commercial launch will include a Samsung card, a ZyXEL modem, a ZTE USB dongle and the Nokia N810 Internet tablet along with WiMAX embedded laptops.

Sprint missed its original commercial launch target of April, citing problems provisioning backhaul. West said the problems have now been solved as the company has been successful at securing backhaul capacity through fiber-optic and microwave links.

For more:
- read telecoms.com

Related stories:
Backhaul, billing causes of Xohm delay. Xohm story
Sprint and Clearwire merge WiMAX networks. WiMAX story

WiMAX Forum announces long-awaited Wave 2 certification

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:06:29 -0400

It's the moment the WiMAX industry has been waiting for. The WiMAX Forum today announced certification for Wave 2 products using MIMO in the 2.5 GHz band. The announcement includes four base stations and six mobile-station terminals operating in the 2.5 GHz band--the spectrum the new Clearwire will be launching nationwide 2.5 GHz mobile station modules passed the mandatory MIMO testing protocols.

The eight companies not surprisingly include Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Beceem, Sequans, Alvarion, Airspan, and Zyxel. Alvarion, Motorola, Samsung and Sequans each received the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for a 2.5 GHz base station. Airspan, Beceem, Intel, Samsung, Sequans and Zyxel each received the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for a 2.5 GHz mobile station module.

Ed Iges, co-chair of the WiMAX Forum's certification working group, told FierceWireless that certification for MIMO for 2.5 GHz products sets the stage for the quick implementation of future profiles. As such, the forum announced that it will begin to accept certification applications for 3.5 GHz equipment during the third quarter, with testing to begin in the fourth quarter and certification completed for those products before the end of the year.

The WiMAX Forum estimates that more than 100 Mobile WiMAX products will be certified by the end of 2008, and by 2011 more than 1,000 products will undergo Mobile WiMAX certification. The WiMAX Forum said it plans to stay ahead of the demand for certification with a robust global lab infrastructure, including six WiMAX Forum partner labs that are now open and ready to accept products for certification testing in China, Korea, Spain, and the U.S., along with two labs in Taiwan, ADT and TTC/CS. The WiMAX Forum plans to open two more certification labs by the end of 2008 in India and Japan and an additional lab in Brazil in 2009 in order to support the anticipated growing demands in those regions.

Wave 2 certification has taken some time to achieve because of the complexities associated with MIMO technology. "The challenge has been getting MIMO on the uplink," noted Iges. "It's not easy to certify having multiple scenarios. What happens on MIMO is that we are adding more stress to the base station."

For more:
- read the WiMAX Forum's release

Related stories:
More perspective on mobile WiMAX certification. WiMAX certification story
On the Hot Seat with Ron Resnick Report on WiMAX Forum's Ron Resnick

Report: Emerging markets accounted for majority of WiMAX subs in 2007

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:38:18 -0400

Pyramid Research says emerging markets accounted for more than 70 percent of the world's WiMAX subscribers in 2007. The firm recently conducted an audit of commercial WiMAX networks across the globe and found that WiMAX operators have been adding new subscribers at a rate of 500 to 1,000 per month. More than 70 percent of those subscribers are coming from the SME and SOHO markets. Article

Maravedis tackles the idea of a combined WiMAX/LTE standard

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:45:02 -0400

Maravedis' Robert Syputa takes on the idea of a merger between WiMAX and LTE standards. Could it really happen? Article

Clearwire expects 30 million subs by 2017

Sue Marek — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:09:28 -0400

Clearwire executives told investors this morning that the "new" Clearwire will have 30 million customers and will generate $17.5 billion in annual revenue by 2017. Scott Richardson, Clearwire chief strategy officer, said that Clearwire subscribers will use a mixture of fixed and mobile voice and data services.

In May, the new Clearwire was formed by Sprint and the existing Clearwire, along with $3.2 billion in financing from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners. Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff assured investors that the new Clearwire will not be controlled by Sprint. The carrier will have seven of the 13 seats on the Clearwire board but one of those seats must be an independent director. In addition, Wolff provided more details on how companies such as Sprint, Comcast and others will resell Clearwire's service to subscribers.

For more:
- see this article

Related stories:
Comcast CEO offers insight on Clearwire investment
Seybold: The New Clearwire - Will it succeed?
New Sprint-Clearwire deal a shot in the arm for mobile WiMAX

Nortel teams with Alvarion on WiMAX; focus moves to LTE

Sue Marek — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:04:13 -0400

When it comes to 4G, Nortel Networks is putting its R&D efforts behind LTE and teaming with Alvarion to come up with an end-to-end mobile WiMAX solution. The shift is notable because in the past Nortel has touted its extensive WiMAX patent portfolio. Now the company says it will focus its R&D on LTE where it believes demand is emerging faster than predicted.

Nortel's LTE focus is timely considering major operators such as Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and AT&T have recently said that they plan to migrate to LTE technology. Verizon has said that it is currently trialing different LTE technologies.

On the mobile WiMAX front, Nortel will work with Alvarion to combine Alvarion's radio access network technology with Nortel's core network elements, backhaul solutions and applications such as VOIP, streaming music and video. The collaboration also will include Nortel's consulting services and its network design and management expertise.

For more:
- see this press release
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Related stories:
Following IPR agreement, Nortel publishes LTE rates
On The Hot Seat: Nortel's Richard Lowe

Cisco, Intel others form WiMAX patent pool

Sue Marek — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:57:10 -0400

Six WiMAX firms have teamed together to create the Open Patent Alliance, a group that's goal is to jointly license WiMAX patents so they can keep royalty rates in check and make the technology more affordable. The companies involved in the formation of the OPA include Cisco Systems, Intel Corp., Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Sprint and Samsung.

During a Webcast this morning, representatives from each company talked about how the OPA would play a role in making IPR costs predictable so that the WiMAX ecosystem will flourish. Sriram Viswanathan, general manager, WiMAX program office and vice president of Intel Capital said that "it's very important to have predictable costs of IPR and that has not existed in the cell phone market. OPA removes that," Viswanathan said.

Likewise, Barry West, CTO of Sprint Nextel and president of Xohm and the "new" Clearwire, said that Sprint is a big believer in the power of the embedded device model, adding that having a large number of device makers is key to this model. "To encourage this, it's helpful if IPR is easy and predictable. I look foward to working with the OPA and I encourage others to join so we can rapidly spread the growth of WiMAX devices."

However, the OPA members made it clear that companies that join the group don't relinquish their patents. The IPR remains with the owners and they are free to use them. Instead the group will work to make it easier for others to license those patents.

In addition, the OPA referred to itself as a "patent pool" and said that it is very different from the WiMAX Forum, an organization with a goal of promoting interoperability and collaboration among its members.

For more:
- see this ComputerWorld article
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Related stories:
Cisco to unveil WiMAX patent alliance. Cisco story
Cisco buys WiMAX vendor Navini for $330M. Read this Cisco story
WiMAX Forum certifies first mobile WiMAX products. Read this WiMAX story