picoChip technology selected by Korea Telecom for first WiBro / WiMAX Femtocell development

picoChip today announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Korea Telecom (KT) to develop WiBro / WiMAX access points, sometimes called Femtocells or Home-Basestations. KT is a leader in wireless technology and has launched commercial WiBro service. picoChip's multi-core DSP is the industry standard architecture for WiMAX infrastructure, and is also being widely used for WCDMA Femtocells.

TRA Bahrain Sets Auction For 3.5 GHz National Fixed Wireless Services Licenses

The TRA has today released the initial details of the auction for the two National Fixed Wireless Services (NFWS) Licenses in the 3.5 GHz part of the spectrum, including the planned timetable. The Information Memorandum issued today provides interested parties with preliminary information about the auction process and a draft of the proposed license.

UMA service now available through the Samsung P200 handset.

Nordic operator TeliaSonera on Tuesday laid claim this week to being the first operator to launch a commercial fixed-mobile convergence service that unites GSM with wireless broadband using unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology.
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The operator has launched its Home Free service, which enables a GSM mobile phone to be used to make fixed calls via the home wireless broadband connection, in Denmark. Just one handset is to be available initially – the UMA-compatible Samsung P200 GSM/EDGE phone.

Motorola re-enters silicon market with WiMAX chipset - 29/08/2006 - Electronics Weekly

Motorola, which purportedly exited the silicon business with the spin-off of its semiconductor division, now re-named Freescale Semiconductor, is working on WiMAX chipsets.

The company has announced a strategic initiative to develop mobile WiMAX chipsets for use in Motorola's next-generation WiMAX devices.

"It should come as no surprise to anyone that Motorola is, and intends to remain, a leader in WiMAX including the design of silicon chipsets for mobile devices. For some time now Motorola has been investing in the development and deployment of WiMAX from infrastructure to advanced silicon," said Ron Garriques, president of Motorola's mobile devices business.

Ghana to deploy mobile WiMAX network

The first nationwide deployment of mobile WiMAX is planned for Ghana, according to an announcement Monday by Internet Ghana and Navini Networks, which will install the high-speed network.

The 802.16e network deployment is underway, with initial operation to begin in the capital city of Accra.

"Once Internet Ghana saw it in action in other countries, they decided to move pretty quickly," said Maryvonne Tubb, Navini Networks spokeswoman. She said the firms involved in the deployment view mobile WiMAX as an effective tool to bridge the "digital divide" to bring broadband solutions to third world and developing countries seeking to leapfrog into more advanced technologies.

"With high consumer demand, poor DSL access and long customer connections, Ghana is absolutely ready for mass market, rapid install, broadband wireless services," said Leslie Tamakloe, CEO of Internet Ghana, in a statement.

Unwired aspires to WiMAX telephony with help from Mitsui

Unwired gets more ambitious by the day: it has teamed up with Mitsui to help develop mobile WiMAX applications and devices that it sees as one day enabling it to compete with cellular telephony.
Unwired has announced that Mitsui & Co will invest between $5 million and $8 million in Unwired, and the two companies have undertaken to share information and to work together on the development of mobile WiMAX and on mobile applications "that will be able to be used by Internet and mobile phone users on mobile WiMAX and mobile phone networks around the world."

Netia selects Alvarion's BreezeMAX for a 20 city WiMAX deployment: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

Israeli WiMAX vendor Alvarion has announced that Netia has placed an order for its BreezeMAX 3600 equipment sufficient for a 20 city WiMAX network. BreezeMAX 3600 enables carriers to offer broadband data, voice, and multimedia services with high performance over wide coverage areas. As a customer of Alvarion's MGW solution for multi-residential voice and data services, Netia began WiMAX rollout in 20 cities on receiving its national licence in July 2005; Netia is one of four carriers to receive such a concession. According to Wojciech Madalski, president and CEO of Netia, Alvarion was chosen because it could ensure that ‘we can provide WiMAX services to subscribers in the first 20 cities by the end of August.’

Intel bankrolls mobile WiMax - Computing

In what analysts regarded as a major endorsement of the technology, another Intel-backed operator, Sprint Nextel, announced last week that it will spend $3bn (£1.6bn) to build a WiMax network across the US over the next two years.

T-Mobile Sets Dual-Mode Debut in Motion

Rumors are rampant that T-Mobile will launch a service in Seattle as soon as September 12 using Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), which would allow hand-off of cellular GSM calls to voice over Wi-Fi with a phone that supports both. UMA is one of several competing dual-mode-style fixed-mobile convergence standards.

Airspan Networks Revenue Up 124%

Airspan shipped WiMAX products to over 30 customers in the second quarter. WiMAX revenues in the first half of 2006 were more than 38% of the Company's total revenues year-to-date.

$16.8 million of sales to Yozan were recorded in the quarter, including $5.7 million deferred from the end of the first quarter.

The compact MicroMAX-SOC was shipped for the first time in the quarter and orders for more than 300 MicroMAX-SOC base stations were received. Revenue for this product in the quarter was not material, but is expected to grow rapidly in the second half of the year.

Alcatel completes first phase of Netia’s WiMAX network: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

Alcatel has announced that Netia, Poland’s largest alternative provider of fixed line telecoms services, has launched the initial phase of its WiMAX network. Under the agreement, Alcatel has supplied, installed and integrated an end-to-end WiMAX solution covering 20 cities, providing Netia’s customers with data rates of up to 2Mbps. The network is using the 3.6GHz-3.8GHz frequency band and supports data-intensive services such as high quality video streaming. ‘One of our goals is to be able to expand country-wide quickly, and to cost effectively offer broadband access over a wide geographic area,’ stated Piotr Czapski, Strategy and Business Development Director from Netia. ‘This network gives users high quality broadband services, including in new areas in Poland beyond the reach of our existing fixed line network’.

NTT to bundle fixed/mobile services under new government plan: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

The Japanese government plans to allow national fixed line operator Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) to bundle packages combining cellular and fixed line phone services, according to reports in the business paper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Although it does not cite sources, the journal says the measures being discussed would allow NTT’s mobile arm DoCoMo to offer combined fixed and mobile services by renting landlines from NTT East Corp and NTT West Corp. In return, the two fixed line providers would be able to provide a discounted mobile service via DoCoMo’s networks. Broadband internet access services could also be included under the plan, the Nihon Keizai said.

KT and ArrayComm Collaborate on MAS-enhanced WiBro Services

oint effort to apply multi-antenna signal processing (MAS) to KT’s
new mobile broadband network

SEONGNAM CITY, SOUTH KOREA and SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- KT Corporation and ArrayComm LLC announced today their agreement to collaborate on improving KT’s new mobile broadband WiBro network by integrating multi-antenna signal processing technologies.

KT, South Korea’s largest telecommunications service provider, is building an advanced mobile broadband service in the 2.3 GHz band. Using this license, KT is leading in the effort to deploy WiBro to meet the consumer and business demand for mobile broadband in South Korea. ArrayComm multi-antenna signal processing software (A-MAS™) is being incorporated in WiBro and WiMAX client devices and base stations by multiple manufacturers to reduce costs and improve performance.

KT recognizes that attractive system economics, driven by good coverage, client data rates, and capacity, will be vital to the success of WiBro services. ArrayComm and KT teams will conduct joint efforts to demonstrate how ArrayComm software can provide benefits for KT’s WiBro initiative. These joint efforts include:
>> Modeling the capital and operating financial benefits from application of MAS in WiBro;
>> Incorporating MAS algorithms into KT’s network planning in order to understand the coverage, client data rate, and capacity benefits that MAS can bring to WiBro services;
>> Conducting field trials in Q4 2006 of MAS-enabled products to validate performance characterization and refine product requirements; and
>> Making continuing contributions to the industry’s standards bodies to further enhance WiBro’s leverage of MAS technology.

“We expect that ArrayComm’s A-MAS software will give a significant performance improvement in the WiBro system” noted JongLok Yoon, Senior Executive Vice President at KT. “We are interested in knowing more about the benefits for our WiBro service.”

“KT’s bold strategy for mobile broadband is charting a new course for service innovation and applications that will delight their customers,” observed Martin Cooper, ArrayComm’s Executive Chair. “We are honored to work with the KT team toward making the next phase of wireless successful.”

KT and ArrayComm have agreed to make reports on the results of their collaboration available to others in the industry over the coming year.

Vodafone looks to reverse mobile-only strategy | The Register

It seems increasingly likely that Vodafone Germany's wireline unit, Arcor, is no longer up for sale but will instead be incorporated into the giant cellco's first major experiment with fixed mobile convergence (FMC) - one that could be a blueprint for other territories.

Vodafone, in its recent reorganisation, made it clear that it must join the FMC race to sustain its margins over time and avoid being sidelined into a large but increasingly pressurised mobile-only niche. It is now said to be keen to buy the minority stake it does not already hold in Arcor, Germany's number two fixed line operator.

WiMAX set to grow in Taiwan: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

Taiwan’s WiMAX industry is expected to be generating TWD10 billion (USD305 million) annually by 2009 and TWD110 billion by 2012 according to research from the country’s Industrial and Economics Centre. A Reuters report says firms such as Zyxel, Foxconn Electronics, Accton Technology and MediaTek are already investing in the sector.

RED HERRING | Sprint Commits $4B to WiMAX

Sprint is expected to announce that it will work with Motorola, the world’s second-largest cell phone maker, along with chip maker Intel, one of the major backers of WiMAX.

Sony Ericsson K618i UMTS Phone Introduced - Mobiledia

Developed for those users that want entertainment on the move and a powerful business tool, the K618i 3G device is as light and slim as a typical 2.5G phone, yet delivers high-speed rates for streaming or downloading music and video clips, browsing the web, or gaming. And staying in control of email is made easier with support for push email, allowing messages to be sent directly to the phone without having to download them.

Sprint Chooses WiMAX to Deploy in 2.5 GHz Spectrum

Sprint (News - Alert) Nextel, the nation’s largest holder of radio spectrum in the precious 2.5 GHz band, has chosen to deploy Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access (WiMAX) as the foundation of its technology platform for the carrier’s mobile broadband Next-Generation Network (NGN) build-out.

At a press conference in New York, Sprint President & CEO Gary D. Forsee explained the 4G network selection process came down to a four key criteria: the market, the cost economics, the ecosystem and the ability to build out a viable business model.

Vodafone policy shift evidence of European 3G failure | The Register

Vodafone has made two key changes of policy in its core European territories - reducing handset subsidies to the extent that 3G phone sales have nosedived, and planning to defocus its marketing efforts on advanced video-driven applications like MMS (Multimedia Messaging) in favour of using its more efficient 3G networks to compete on pricing in traditional services.

This latter shift was presaged last year in Germany, where Vodafone launched its Zu Hause homezone offering, which provides low cost, flat rate calls on the cellular network when the user is within a certain distance of the home. This was clearly designed to pre-empt the wave of flat rate VoIP tariffs being offered by start-up and wireline providers, by using the spectral efficiency of the 3G network to deliver very low cost voice and still make a profit.

Can mobile WiMAX repay vendors’ faith? | August 1, 2006 | Telecommunications Magazine

ntel and Motorola have dramatically upped the mobile WiMAX ante. Last month — through their respective venture capital arms — they invested a jaw-dropping total of US$900 m in Clearwire, a US-based wireless broadband provider. Clearwire intends to use the cash to deploy wireless networks based on the 802.16e ‘standard’ — the mobile version of WiMax — in both the US and Europe.

Clearwire Corp. Takes Aim at Mobile WiMax Business

Clearwire Corp. Takes Aim at Mobile WiMax Business: "Less than three years old, Clearwire has struck alliances with Intel, Motorola and Bell Canada to give it a rapidly growing stake in the broadband wireless market, with a determination to be a major player in the mobile-capable WiMax technology that is just around the corner."