Friday, June 30, 2006

Cellcos ally to keep their hands on beach front spectrum for 4G | The Register

Six of the world's largest mobile operators have formed the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Forum, aiming to use their collective lobbying might to ensure they can run fourth generation mobile broadband networks in their existing spectrum without significant additional licensing fees.

Web-Based WiMAX Network Dimensioning Tool Debuts

LCC International, Inc. announced today the commercial availability of WiView, a comprehensive business planning and dimensioning tool designed to evaluate and estimate the infrastructure requirements and resulting capital and operational expenditures for designing a WiMAX broadband network.

news - Fujitsu Network Communications Adds Airspan AS.MAX WiMAX Products to their Broadband Wireless Portfolio

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., a leading supplier of IT and wireline/wireless networking solutions, announced today the availability of a new WiMAX solution for North American service providers. This end-to-end, turnkey solution combines carrier-class WiMAX products from Airspan Networks (NASDAQ:AIRN) and Network Life Cycle Services from Fujitsu to create a unique broadband wireless solution. Fujitsu and Airspan are both founding and current board members of the WiMAX Forum™ (www.wimaxforum.org), and this is the first system-level agreement between two founding board members.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Fujitsu and Airspan Team to Deliver Carrier Class WiMAX Solution

Networking solutions provider Fujitsu is also playing a big role in driving WiMAX adoption rates. The company today announced that it is partnering with WiMAX equipment maker Airspan Networks to deliver a new, end-to-end, turnkey WiMAX solution for U.S. service providers. As per the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu will become a reseller for the full line of Airpan’s AS.MAX products, and will provide support for the new carrier-class solution through its Network Life Cycle Services.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

TelecomView Study Says Fixed WiMAX Gaining a Strong Foothold

WiMAX has already established itself as a viable technology for providing broadband data services. It is being used to bring broadband to developing countries, to compete with fixed broadband services, and to extend broadband to rural areas. TelecomView's new report Broadband Strategies for the Fixed Market identifies 75 Broadband Wireless deployments.

BellSouth Selects Alcatel for WiMAX Trial: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

BellSouth, the first major telecom provider to commercially launch wireless broadband using pre-WiMAX technology in the U.S., will begin lab trials next quarter based on Alcatel's standards-based universal WiMAX solution (IEEE 802.16e-2005). The trials will be conducted in the 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Chunghwa Telecom rolls-out WiMAX network

Taiwan telecom provider Chunghwa Telecom has successfully completed the first phase of the roll-out of its WiMAX and Wi-Fi access network in Taiwan. The Chunghwa Telecom is using Redline Communications' RedMAX Base Station and RedMAX Outdoor Subscriber Unit to connect multiple Wi-Fi zones in urban centres throughout Taiwan. M-Wave Technology, a Redline Certified Partner, is managing the network planning and implementation. Financial details of the project were not disclosed.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Chunghwa Telecom Launches First WiMAX Network in Taiwan with Redline's RedMAX'TM' Products @ SYS-CON Media

Redline Communications, a leading provider of standards-based wireless broadband equipment, today announced that Chunghwa Telecom, the largest telecommunications service provider in Taiwan, has successfully completed the first phase of its WiMAX and Wi-Fi access network in Taiwan. The WiMAX connections have been established using Redlines' RedMAX products - the world's first products to receive the WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) mark for a complete WiMAX system.

CMPnetAsia.com

Intel next week is introducing a client chipset that supports both the fixed and mobile versions of the wireless broadband technology known as WiMax.

Arguably WiMax's biggest cheerleader, the company is working to make the case for the technology with a chipset roadmap that targets devices ranging from video games to digital cameras -- the idea being that if the clients are there, the carriers will come.

For those of you just joining us: WiMax comes in two basic flavors -- one for fixed wireless and one for mobile. The fixed version, handily known as 802.16d-2004, was designed to be a replacement or supplement for broadband cable access or DSL. A more recently ratified version, 802.16e-2005, also can support fixed wireless applications, but it allows for roaming among base stations as well. Thus the two standards are generally known as "fixed WiMax" and "mobile WiMax."

Alvarion Completes Initial 802.16e Interoperability Between Its 4Motion(TM) BreezeMAX(TM) Base Station and Various Third Party Devices

Alvarion Completes Initial 802.16e Interoperability Between Its 4Motion(TM) BreezeMAX(TM) Base Station and Various Third Party Devices

UK planning further spectrum sell off

The interesting point here is that Ofcom has previously told the INQ that future spectrum sales will be technology agnostic. That is to say, that it won't insist that a specific scheme – such as W-CDMA – must be used at a particular frequency.

This means that instead of being used to increase 3G networks' capacity, it might be employed for something completely different – such as WiMax. The main WiMax frequency bands are 2.5 GHz, 3. 5 GHz, and 5. 8 GHz, but countries in Asia Pacific have already consider this spectrum for WiMax.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Wireless IQ - Technology Market Research

Alvarion Ltd. today announced that its BreezeMAX system, the most deployed WiMAX solution in the world with over 150 installations in more than 30 countries, has achieved WiMAX Forum certification. The specific products certified include the BreezeMAX PRO CPE family, as part of its dedication to customers and the market to meet WiMAX Forum certification in the second quarter. All products operate at 3.5 GHz FDD and use the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface chip.

WiMAX Gains Momentum, Competes With DSL

For a technology that has established itself in broadband communications, WiMAX is positioned on the forefront of the competition, says a recent report from TelecomView.

WiMax seen getting a slow start

WiMax is a wireless technology that promises faster connections over a greater area than is possible with wireless LAN technology, like Wi-Fi. Fixed-wireless and mobile versions of WiMax are in development, with the fixed-wireless version seen as a replacement for wired broadband connections such as cable and DSL (digital subscriber line), and the mobile version pitched as a complement to cellular services.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Revolutionary calling

International calls on mobiles have always cost users a small fortune and made big profits for the phone companies, but that may be about to change. Not only are excessive charges for international roaming under scrutiny by the EU, but a Swedish start-up called Rebtel - launching this month in three dozen countries around the world - has a scheme that slashes international mobile phone call charges to almost nothing.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Telegraph | Money | O2 buys £50m broadband minnow

''They are the fifth biggest DSL [digital subscriber line] provider and are estimated to get to first or second place within a couple of years." Bought by Telefonica last year, 02 said the deal would allow it to offer broadband to its 16m customers and compete with the likes of Orange and Carphone Warehouse, which launched its high-profile broadband offer last year.

Monday, June 19, 2006

TelecomView Study Says Fixed WiMAX Gaining a Strong Foothold

WiMAX has already established itself as a viable technology for providing broadband data services. It is being used to bring broadband to developing countries, to compete with fixed broadband services, and to extend broadband to rural areas. TelecomView's new report Broadband Strategies for the Fixed Market identifies 75 Broadband Wireless deployments.

IEEE suspends wireless group - ZDNet UK News

The IEEE has put on hold its review of a technology that competes with WiMax and is favoured by Qualcomm, due to a squabble involving Intel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The move might delay adoption of 802.20 wireless technology, a competitor to WiMax, which Intel has been promoting to provide long-range broadband access for laptop computers and other devices, the Journal said.

Mobile/Wireless - Nokia, Siemens Create Networks Giant - Telecom News Analysis

The new company, comprising Nokia's Networks Business Group and the carrier-related operations of Siemens Communications Group , has annual revenues of €15.8 billion ($19.9 billion), based on calendar 2005 sales. Nokia recorded revenues of €6.6 billion ($8.3 billion) and an operating profit of €855 million ($1.1 billion) from its networks group in 2005, leaving €9.2 billion ($11.6 billion) coming from the Siemens Communications Group.

Motorola’s WiMax Ecosystem

Motorola’s WiMax strategy, Coombes says, is focused strictly on 802.16e, or mobile WiMax – when mobility is an option, he says, there’s no point in offering a fixed solution as well. Similarly, Coombes says WiMax doesn’t compete with Motorola’s 802.11n strategy. “It’s really a different focus,” he says. “WiMax is wide area, while 802.11 technology has a more limited range.”

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Navini Upgrades Software to Mobile WiMAX 16e

Navini Networks is announcing the availability of its mobile WiMAX 16e software with smart beamforming. Customer shipments will start in December 2006, following Wave-1 certification.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Why you should care about WiMax - ZDNet UK Insight

While you can already buy 802.16-2004 equipment, 802.16e kit is just starting to appear. You can expect to see lots of it in the next couple of years, though, as it's being heavily backed by the likes of Intel and Motorola. Look out for PCMCIA cards and USB dongles by the end of 2006, 802.16e-enabled laptops next year and phones by 2008. It's important to note that 802.16-2004 and 802.16e equipment are incompatible.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Swisscom awarded licence for broadband wireless access by Swiss regulator - Forbes.com

Switzerland's Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) said it has awarded Swisscom AG a licence for broadband wireless access.

As a result, the group receives a licence priced at a minimal bidding price of 6.1 mln sfr which will become effective from August 2006 and remain valid until the end of 2016.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Rural Quebec Region To Get Broadband Via WiMAX Network

SOGETEL Communications, an independent telecommunications firm serving a wide area of rural Quebec, has contracted to supply a 4,300-square-kilometer region with WiMAX-based broadband wireless technology, VoIP phoning, and Wi-Fi networks.

Alvarion Announces Commerical Availability of Self Install WiMax CPE

Alvarion announced the commercial availability of its BreezeMAX Si, a self-installable, all indoor WiMAX customer premises equipment (CPE) based on the WiMAX standard. Opening the door for mass-market deployment of WiMAX services everywhere, this new compact CPE from the BreezeMAX 3500 family uses advanced radio technology for improved indoor penetration and NLOS operation, enables simple end user plug and play installation, and paves the way for nomadic and portable services. Following trials with ten different operators, commercial units of the Si CPE—which use the Intel® PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface chip—are now available for order.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Start WiMAX: CommsUpdate

Russia’s Start Telecom says it plans to begin the rollout of a WiMAX wireless broadband network which will cover five cities by the end of the year. The firm’s CEO, Pavel Kaplunov, told Vedemosti newspaper that the telco will be spending around USD500,000 in each city. Other Russian operators, including Enforta, are planning to build similar city-wide networks.

AT&T puts WiMAX at the heart of its broadband expansion

Despite their huge geographic reach and market share, the leading Bell operators – Verizon and AT&T (soon to include BellSouth) – are coming under intense pressure. Their basic phone lines businesses are losing margin – and Verizon is already talking about hiving them off – and the cable operators are progressing quickly in broadband, and four majors have stolen a march in the emerging market for fixed/mobile services with their joint venture with Sprint. Not to mention the potential challenge from the satellite television providers, as they look to build their own triple play.