WiMAX Hype?
WiMAX Hype?
The proponents of WiMAX are certainly busy this year. There was an obvious fight for attention among technologies that enhance last mile connectivity, especially in the context of advancements allowing voice communications.
WiMAX is seen as a suitable technology in countries like India and China, where DSL penetration is low. In high DSL and cable penetration nations like Singapore, WiMAX will let rivals without fixed-line infrastructure enter the broadband market. Although the adoption of the technology is seen as a major move to drop broadband access prices, it worries the incumbent players, especially those that have not yet recouped their fixed-line deployment investments.
Nonetheless, studies done by Lucent Technologies show that WiMAX (for broadband access) is well-suited for suburban environments, and is even better for rural ones. It performs poorly in an urban setting, however.
Responding to CMPnetAsia's WiMAX coverage at CommunicAsia, Dipankar Dasgupta, Lucent's Asia Pacific vice president of Architecture and Technology, said that WiMAX, as a broadband replacement (compared to DSL), is inappropriate for urban use.
Dasgupta added that WiMAX is not a direct threat to 3G technologies like 1xEV-DO (CDMA2000) or HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access).
"Today, 1x-DO is well entrenched and has more than 15 suppliers providing over 100 handsets. It will take a long time for WiMAX to match this," he said.
Phase two of WiMAX, called Mobile WiMAX (802.16e), will enable full mobile roaming but will only come online in late '06 or early '07. In comparison, the 3G roadmap will see 1x-EV-DO (Rev B) ratified as a standard very soon, noted Dasgupta.
"When [1x-EV-DO (Rev B)] is adopted, it will give much higher data rates (both upload and download), getting EV-DO closer to WiMAX," he said.
One thing is for sure. The next 12 months will see WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and 3G slug it out for a share of the potentially lucrative wireless last mile access for data and voice services.
The diplomats out there say that everything will co-exist and complement one another. Whichever way things go, consumers and business users will benefit from lower prices, faster bandwidth, and more choice for voice.
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