Team to Develop 3G Femtocell Home Gateway

This gateway device will offer mobile operators worldwide a single-box, converged solution at a competitive price. It is anticipated that the NETGEAR gateway integrating Ubiquisys' femtocell technology will be available for operator testing by Q4 2007, with commercial availability slated for early 2008.

WiMax/Broadband Wireless - Vodafone's WiMax Creep - Wireless News Analysis

While Vodafone's small-scale Maltese deployment is unlikely to cause meltdown in the mobile network infrastructure community, it could be seen as a shot across the bows of vendors perceived to be dragging their heels over the development of long-term evolution (LTE), or 4G, products -- especially as Vodafone is now involved in WiMax activities in Bahrain, France, Greece, New Zealand, and South Africa, too, either directly or through affiliates.

Nortel WiMAX Ecosystem Promotes Global WiMAX Growth

Among others, Nortel will work with ZyXEL, Runcom (News - Alert), and Sequans to offer service providers a variety of end-to-end WiMAX solutions. Through its collaboration with ZyXEL, these solution offerings will include ZyXEL PCMCIA cards and customer premises equipment (CPE), such as indoor and outdoor residential gateways, which will be bundled for sale with Nortel’s WiMAX infrastructure technology.

Femto With WiMax

Silicon could be key in enabling a multi-radio mini-base station. Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM - message board) has already started to express an interest in developing chips for this type of application. Major players such as Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN - message board), as well as smaller companies like PicoChip Designs Ltd. , are already working on dedicated femtocell chipsets. Meanwhile, RadioFrame is extending its own OmniFrame silicon to support WiMax. (See Qualcomm's Home Invasion.)

WiMAX in Europe Facing a Brighter Future Where Technology-Neutral Spectrum Is Available

The European Commission and several national regulators, including Norway, Sweden, and the UK, want the situation to change, as does the WiMAX Forum. The ITU has now also agreed that OFDM-based technologies should be included in the IMT2000 standard. This will place mobile WiMAX on the same footing as 3G mobile when it comes to using the 3G extension bands and, potentially, existing 3G bands.

"This is a good sign for technology neutrality becoming the accepted approach for spectrum auctions in the future," says ABI Research analyst Ian Cox. "Mobile WiMAX products will start to appear in 2007 and can be used in unpaired spectrum, giving them an opportunity not available to UMTS."

Tatara Systems raises $8m

Tatara Systems, a worldwide leader in mobile services convergence, today announced that it has secured $8 million in additional funding to fuel the company’s growth in the rapidly emerging femtocell market. This investment was led by Highland Capital Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, two leading firms with extensive experience investing in communications equipment, network infrastructure, and software.

Kineto Wireless and NEC Femtocell Collaboration

NEC will integrate Kineto’s UMA Network Controller (UNC) into NEC’s Home Gateway
Solution.

Sprint's WiMAX Effort to Focus on Devices

This, of course, is all in the future. Sprint’s job now—in addition to testing the capabilities of its mobile WiMAX vendors Samsung, Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks and building out the initial networks—is “explaining the difference between mobilizing the Internet and a mobile voice network. We’re not ready yet to come out with our plans. We’ll do that much nearer to launch date,” he said.

What’s Up with U.S. WiMax?

“In the U.S., the number of laptop users using even EV-DO is not that high,” she says, referring to the 3G technology deployed in several cities not only by Sprint but also by Verizon Wireless. She thinks, despite a lack of numbers from the two carriers, the number of users is probably around 2 million. “To justify a country-wide network for that few is a difficult proposition.”

NXTCOMM: Wireless Is a Hot Topic at NxtComm

Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers gave a wide-ranging address focusing on how an increase in collaborative applications through the Internet, as well as a steady surge in video traffic, will drive 300-500% in network growth per year. Chambers, who noted that video traffic is currently pushing sales of large Cisco routers, predicts that the broadband traffic from just 20 U.S. homes in 2010 will be more than the traffic of the entire Internet backbone in 1995.

Samsung Unveils Newly-Developed Mobile WiMAX Systems

Korea NewsWire

Ofcom considers allowing UK Broadband to offer mobile WiMax across the UK :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacanc

UK Broadband’s current licence permits the company to operate broadband fixed wireless access in the 3.5 GHz band. The company has asked Ofcom to vary its licence to make it technology and service neutral, giving it greater flexibility over how it can use the radio spectrum. It has also sought an increase in its permitted power levels.

Sprint Explores Options for WiMax

Sprint Nextel Corp. is exploring new options for financing its ambitious plan to build a wireless broadband network known as WiMax, including forming a partnership or joint venture with cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw and seeking an infusion of cash from cable providers, people familiar with the matter say.

The steps are partly an effort to soothe investor concerns about the cost of the WiMax plan. Sprint has committed to spending about $3 billion through next year to build a network that will offer high-speed wireless Internet access to 100 million people.

Mobile WiMAX Maven Clearwire Cuts Satellite Deals

Clearwire, which is betting its life on the success of 'mobile WiMAX,' this morning said that it has signed marketing pacts with both U.S. direct-to-home (DTH) satellite video vendors, DirecTV and Dish owner EchoStar Communications.

AT&T to Run with LTE

AT&T's Chris Hill, vice president of Government Solutions for Mobility, commented during an interview at the Wireless Communications Association (WCA) conference that, "LTE provides similar throughputs, so we're taking a wait-and-see approach to WiMAX. We just don't see the value proposition for mobile WiMAX."

Femtocells to Dominate Fixed-Mobile Convergence Market

Mobile operators are now making key and far-ranging decisions about the future of their consumer fixed-mobile convergence services. While enterprise FMC services are clearly following the route of VCC- and SIP-enabled solutions, consumer FMC services will take one of two major paths, based on each mobile operator's view of the market, and the nature of its existing network assets.

According to ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, "Today, consumer FMC services that are based on Wi-Fi use UMA to manage the connection choice and handover between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. These services are ramping up quickly in Europe, due to intense competition between Orange, BT, and other mobile operators. In North America, T-Mobile USA is about to go nationwide with its UMA-based FMC service as well."

"However," adds research director Stuart Carlaw, "mobile operators such as Vodafone, SFR, Softbank, and Sprint are at the leading edge among carriers exploring femtocell technologies. With their ability to work with any handset, and their potential for encouraging high data use, femtocells are very attractive when compared to VCC and UMA-based Wi-Fi services."

Mobile WiMAX, MIMO-Based Coverage Enhancement Solution Debuts | Wireless IQ

Dekolink Wireless, Ltd. is today announcing an industry-first in-building repeater solution for the WiMAX market. The Deko2425-M WiMAX MIMO-based repeater can be implemented in mobile carriers' and other mobile WiMAX networks in the 2.5-2.7 GHz bands.

KT, LG-Nortel And Nortel Combine Expertise At Mobile Wimax Service Conformance Verification Center

Service Conformance Verification Center. The SCVC is built around Nortel’s WiMAX technology, comprised of Nortel’s WiMAX Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 5000 - a MIMO-powered solution, Access Service Network (ASN) Gateway, Connectivity Service Network (CSN), and WiMAX PCMCIA cards provided by Nortel’s multi-vendor ecosystem members. Nortel recently announced the WiMAX 4G Ecosystem Center of Excellence in Taiwan which will promote interoperability across WiMAX devices and applications such VoIP, video streaming and IPTV.

WRC-07 agenda item 1.4 | Ofcom

Summary of conclusions

1.1 The following points highlight Ofcom's main conclusions on candidate bands following a review of the responses to the consultation it published on WRC 07 agenda item 1.4 on 27 February 2007:

* Ofcom’s preference for the band 470 to 862 MHz is a co-primary mobile allocation in Region 1 in the table of allocations in Article 5 of the Radio Regulations;
* Ofcom supports a co-primary mobile allocation for the sub-band 3400 to 3800 MHz and an identification for IMT coupled with a requirement for an associated Resolution to reflect the need to provide appropriate protection for existing satellite use whilst facilitating access to the band for new use;
* In view of the emerging opposition from various European administrations to the sub-band 3800 to 4200 MHz Ofcom supports a position of no change to the table of allocations;
* For the other candidate bands, we have concluded that there is no need to change the position proposed in the consultation however the UK may wish to consider the merit in signing up to any "no change" proposals developed within Europe.

IEEE802.16 "WiMAX" Software Reference Designs

The solution scales from femtocells through microcells to sophisticated multi-sector basestations, with full support for mobility, MIMO and beam-forming. What’s more, it is completely software upgradeable, from certified 16d to 16e, Wave 2 and MIMO — and with a roadmap to 16j and 16m.

WiMax To Become Part of 3G Umbrella

WiMAX could become a sub-3G technology before 2008 thanks to pre- approval of proposals submitted by the IEEE and the WiMAX Forum to the International Telecommunication Union.

The 22nd meeting of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party 8F (WP 8F) in Kyoto, Japan reached a significant milestone in its work when it forwarded for approval a new terrestrial radio interface for IMT-2000, "OFDMA TDD WMAN" as a specific subset of WiMAX. This new terrestrial radio interface complements the existing family of IMT-2000 radio interfaces and is in direct response to the demands of ITU Members to address the continuously growing wireless marketplace.

IMT-2000 radio interface expanded with OFDMA technology

Geneva, 31 May 2007 - The 22nd meeting of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party 8F (WP 8F) in Kyoto, Japan reached a significant milestone in its work when it forwarded for approval a new terrestrial radio interface for IMT-2000, "OFDMA TDD WMAN" as a specific subset of WiMAX. This new terrestrial radio interface complements the existing family of IMT-2000 radio interfaces and is in direct response to the demands of ITU Members to address the continuously growing wireless marketplace.

WP 8F has delivered a number of key Recommendations and Reports that update and expand the family of IMT-2000 radio interfaces, establish the foundation for IMT-Advanced, and call for additional spectrum for IMT. It has woven together a definition, a recipe, and a roadmap foreseeing the future beyond 3G that is comprised of a balance between a market and services view, a technology view, and a spectrum view. Along with regulatory aspects, these are the key elements for business success in the wireless industry, and ITU-R continues to deliver value to industry and government.

Working under a mandate to address "systems beyond 3G", WP 8F progressed from delivering an initial vision to establishing a name for the future (IMT-Advanced) and set out principles for the process of development of IMT-Advanced. These deliverables stimulated research and development activities worldwide, spawned ideas on potential technologies, and promoted views on spectrum required to address a rapidly growing wireless world.

Clearwire Completes Acquisition of AT&T Mobile WiMAX Spectrum

Clearwire announced the completion of its acquisition of all the 2.5 GHz wireless broadband spectrum previously owned or controlled by AT&T Inc. and the former BellSouth.

With this acquisition and assuming closing of other pending spectrum purchases, Clearwire's U.S. spectrum holdings increased to approximately 14.0 billion MHz-POPs, covering an estimated 223 million people with varying depths of spectrum. In addition, Clearwire holds approximately 8.7 billion MHz-POPs of spectrum in Europe, covering approximately 199 million people. Clearwire holds one of the world's largest portfolios of next-generation wireless broadband spectrum in the frequency bands identified by the mobile WiMAX standard.