Alca-Lu clarifies mobile WiMAX plan

At the WiMAX Congress Asia event in Singapore, Alcatel-Lucent's vice president of WiMAX business Valerie Layan assured the audience the company still has a strong WiMAX strategy that includes deploying 802.16e infrastructure for voice and data services in fixed, nomadic and mobile environments.

That statement somewhat contradicts what Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said last December. At that time, Verwaayen said that to return the company to profitability Alcatel-Lucent would step up investments in LTE and pull back on WiMAX. Specifically, Verwaayen said the company, which has posted seven straight quarters of losses, would increase investments in LTE as the world's major operators plan to deploy the 4G technology as well as continue investing in WCDMA and CDMA2000 1x EV-DO. Likewise, it would  reduce spending on WiMAX, GSM and CDMA 1x. 

Nevertheless, Layans touted her company's WiMAX portfolio this week in Singapore and said it is currently supplying 802.16e equipment for 14 networks worldwide, including Packet One in Malaysia. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent has 32 mobile WiMAX contracts.

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