The emergence and rapid uptake of always-on mobile broadband is being propelled by new applications, such as live video news, video sharing and social media. To meet this growing demand for access to mobile broadband Internet, Rick Rogers, Managing Director, Alvarion: South Africa, says more and more operators are choosing to deploy Mobile WiMax today.<\/p>\n
He explains that Mobile WiMax is a 4G technology and will initially operate in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency bands. Today, Mobile WiMax can be leveraged to provide the user experience and capacity users are demanding for the full spectrum of mobile broadband services.<\/p>\n
“As one of the first 4G technologies to reach the market, more and more countries and operators are adopting WiMax as the mobile broadband Internet technology of choice. Faced with customer demand for mobile broadband, operators are showing preference for ready-to-deploy WiMax rather than waiting for alternative mobile technologies that may, or may not, be available in time to effectively respond to the market.”<\/p>\n
Rogers believes personal broadband is a natural evolution that allows subscribers to literally take their broadband experience with them when they are not connected to the DSL service.<\/p>\n
“Cable operators are in a situation where they face steep competition from satellite providers for basic broadcast television and declining broadband Internet service revenues. Today most cable operators offer triple play landline voice, TV and Internet services. The only missing piece is mobility. Mobile WiMax is a natural evolution that completes the offering, also allowing subscribers to take their cable broadband services with them.”<\/p>\n
Mobile WiMax networks also offer an attractive, complementary option for cellular operators. This investment in new infrastructure will provide the experience subscribers demand and turn the early introduction of Mobile WiMax into a time-to-market advantage in the personal broadband space.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Mobile WiMax addresses many of the network capacity management issues cellular operators face with current 3G services, as Mobile WiMax overlay in densely populated areas can offer immediate expanded capacity, says Rogers.<\/p>\n
“The business case for Mobile WiMax works by enabling affordable mobile broadband services that lead to mass adoption,” said Rogers.<\/p>\n
He added that the cost elements of Mobile WiMax that enable service providers to keep their service offering affordable include:<\/p>\n
–an advanced over-the-air protocol that minimises the number of base stations required, thereby reducing deployment costs;
–the ability to add applications in response to service demand;
–the option to begin with a limited network deployment and increase capacity according to demand.<\/p>\n
“Another key factor is the availability of low cost, advanced terminals, which affect not only the total cost of the equipment, but also the user experience and acceptance,” Rogers concluded.<\/p>\n
LTE a strong contender<\/strong><\/p>\n While Alvarion is punting the advantages and take up of Mobile WiMax, many industry players feel that LTE will be the preferred technology for telecoms operators.<\/p>\n According to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) LTE is well positioned to win the mobile broadband war. NSN said the LTE standards body consists of only 6 representatives, making it much easier to reach an agreement as opposed to the 500 strong WiMax Forum. <\/p>\n NSN further pointed out that WiMax has not gained much traction in the market, especially with embedded chips in handsets and other mobile devices. LTE builds on what already exists in the market making compatibility and upgrades far easier.<\/p>\n While LTE is at least a year or two away from commercial rollout across the globe, the technology’s predecessor – HSDPA – has enjoyed widespread adoption amoung cellular operators. Recent statistics from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association confirms 316 HSPA network commitments in 129 countries. A total of 274 operators have commercially launched HSPA mobile broadband services in 115 countries, with around half of them supporting a peak downlink data speed of 7.2 Mbps or higher.<\/p>\n A related survey by GSA confirms that 1 605 HSPA devices have been launched by 183 manufacturers. The number of products increased by over 121% year-on-year. The number of HSPA-enabled notebooks tripled year-on-year, with the number of phones and smartphones rising by more than 88% in the same period.<\/p>\n Telecoms expert Dr. Martyn Roetter recently pointed out that HSPA has been far more successful in Korea. “This fact has been overlooked too frequently in the attention being paid to the 4G rivalry between WiMax and LTE, as WiMax tries to portray itself as a step beyond 3G technologies such as HSPA,” said Roetter.<\/p>\n Independent telecoms advisor inCode reiterates Roetter’s comments, saying that HSPA and HSPA+ are poised to serve the data needs of wireless customers for a long time. “The HSPA experience may be good enough to compete with WiMax and offers better geographic coverage than WiMax for the next couple of years,” inCode predicts.<\/p>\n The battle between WiMax and HSPA\/LTE has only begun, but early indications suggest that there is more momentum behind HSPA and LTE than the much hyped mobile WiMax.<\/p>\n