A Supplement to

The Complete Guide To:

April 2006

Broadband
GETS PERSONAL
Mobile WiMAX is
upon us, bringing
a whole new kind
of broadband service
experience with it.

Inside:
Carriers gain real-world
WiMAX knowledge

VoIP and quality

go hand-in-hand

The emergence
of OFDMA
 2006

The Real
WORLD By Dan O’Shea
cations systems division at answer session. People from the gallery
Samsung Electronics. began firing all sorts of intelligent and
Each of them brought a extremely specific questions at the panel-
different perspective, Smith, ists: What is the business model for Mobile
that of a telco that is testing WiMAX where there is already 3G? How
the water with commercial many base stations do you need to build
pre-WiMAX services and in an average city, what can you charge
gathering information, but for service and where is your break-even
holding off on bigger com- point? Where do customer premises equip-
mitments while waiting to ment price points need to be for Mobile
see what Mobile WiMAX can WiMAX to become a viable broadband
offer; Hoadley, that of an alternative—how do we get there and
equipment vendor that has when? How can you spend money to build
been foraging around in the a WiMAX network and still compete with
forest of developing stan- municipal networks that will offer service
dards looking for the right for free? Who among the telecom outsiders
commercial opportunities; will bid on spectrum at auction—Micro-
and Song, that of an equip- soft, Apple or Google?
ment and device vendor The panelists had answers for some of
that is on the very forefront those questions, and others were just too
of what Mobile WiMAX hard to answer adequately in our format of
may offer, getting ready to discussion, but the number and specificity
help Korea Telecom launch of the questions both surprised and enlight-
broadly available commercial ened me. It was an indicator that the whole
WiBro service this spring. level of debate about WiMAX has been
We talked on the panel elevated across the telecom industry. People
about the future of WiMAX, don’t necessarily want to talk about future
in admittedly most vague possibilities—about what names they will
Editor-in-Chief Dan O’Shea visionary terms—I kidded give to their WiMAX robots—but what they
Song about the “WiBro robot” can do now, how they can fit WiMAX into

J
ust two weeks ago at the TelecomNext he showed a photo of when explaining what their current understanding of their own
trade show in Las Vegas, I had the kinds of end-user terminals could eventually business models.
privilege of moderating a panel on “The carry WiBro. He said it was roughly the size The audience raised important questions
Future of WiMAX” that included Bill Smith, of an iDog and would follow you anywhere. that the WiMAX Forum should strive to
chief technology officer of BellSouth; John (Note to Song: I was serious about wanting answer so that as many companies as pos-
Hoadley, vice president of advanced tech- one for Christmas this year.) sible can get involved in the market as soon
nology and wireless networks at Nortel Net- It was the kind of general banter that as possible. Around the world, people are
works; and Hung Song, vice president of the you see at any panel, that is, until we got craving a WiMAX education, and they want
global marketing group in the telecommuni- the audience involved in the question and it now—because the future is now. ◗

The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO

WiMAX
Contents Starts
2 MOBILE WIMAX:
THE EVOLUTION BEGINS
with
Mobile WiMAX promises to bring with
it a whole new kind of broadband service
experience—personal broadband.
Aperto.
8 LEARNING
FROM EXPERIENCE
Carriers and vendors gain insight into
how consumers will use WIMAX through
trials and commercial rollouts.

WIMAX PUTS
13 SERVICE QUALITY
ON DISPLAY
Many bank on VoIP to be the WiMAX killer app,
but service quality will be key to the success of
The WiMAX era has arrived with new PacketMAX™
this—or any other WiMAX-enabled—offering.
5000 from Aperto Networks. The PacketMAX 5000 is

OFDMA PREPARES the world's first carrier-class broadband wireless

15 TO MOVE ON base station to be WiMAX Forum Certified and
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing was way provides unsurpassed subscriber density, QoS, and
ahead of WiMAX and 3G in terms of offerings on
the market. The current standstill has been caused reliability. No other product lets carriers and service
by vendors awaiting ratification of standards. providers so quickly offer broadband services
across div
diverse customer bases—and so profitably.
17 Q&A: DONNA CARLSON For more information on PacketMAX solutions, call
Principal analyst at Sky Light Research talks
about what WiMAX will accomplish in 2006. +1.408.719.9977 or visit www.apertonet.com.

Wireless to the MAX

PacketMAX™ 5000 is the

industry's highest density,
highest capacity, and highest
performing base station.
Aperto Networks
598 Gibraltar Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035

© 2006 Aperto Networks. All rights reserved.

 MOBILITY

Mobile WiMAX:
THE EVOLUTION BEGINS
The next step for broadband wireless technology will help usher in a new

T
era of applications and devices, as well as new thinking about how we
view broadband. By Dan O’Shea
The telecom industry is at one of those in the WiMAX Forum and in the industry intense among 18 to 25-year-olds).
richly interesting points in its history were calling Mobile WiMAx by another “It’s a younger demographic, the iPod
where many different types of migration name: personal broadband. That name isn’t generation,” Subramanian said. “A lot of
seem to be happening at the same time. so much an alter ego, as it is a much better them have never had a landline connection
In the service provider back office, there descriptor of what the technology actually to their name, and you probably never will
is the migration to the era of customer provides to its users, as well as an indicator of see that happen. What they are used to is
self-maintenance, in which automated net- exactly how it may change our current con- mobile services, and the idea is going to a
work management and remote self-service cept of broadband technology and access. retail store and buying a phone with the
capabilities are changing how broadband “Mobile WiMAX will broaden the market
service is activated and administered. In for broadband everywhere in the world and
the network core, carriers are migrating to make it the kind of market that it should
IP multimedia subsystem architectures that be, one that is counted in number of people
are simplifying how different types of com- connected rather than in the number of
munications traffic are treated, creating a households connected,” Subramanian said.
more structurally open and operationally Carlton O’Neal, vice president of mar-
efficient network environment. And at keting for Alvarion, added, “Beginning this
the access level, carriers are continuing to year, there will be a move to the idea of
migrate to new forms of broadband access, personal broadband, and it can change
Fixed WiMAX being among the latest. broadband in the same way that [personal
Yet, in the broadband access realm, there communications services] changed the cell
is more soon on the way, as the WiMAX phone market. What will happen with Mo-
Forum and its member companies look to bile WiMAX is that you will have a personal
make Mobile WiMAX, based on the IEEE broadband service that is wrapped in a
802.16e standard, a commercial endeavor device. The concept of broadband will go up
by sometime early next year. And many a notch and become disconnected from loca-
people in the WiMAX community are bet- tion. People will be asking each other, ‘Who
ting that Mobile WiMAX will do what Fixed is your personal broadband provider?’”
WiMAX and other fixed forms of broadband If it seems a stretch for the average
access have not been able to do—inspire a communications consumer to start think-
whole new way of thinking about and defin- ing in those terms about broadband, then
ing broadband service a the broadband user maybe you just aren’t young enough to
experience. know better about how the nature of com-
“If you are talking about a technology munications, and by extension broadband,
that can turn wireless into a broadband is already changing. Mobile substitution of
phenomenon, it is clearly Mobile WiMAX landline service, the so-called act of “cut-
that you are talking about,” said Sai Subra- ting the cord,” has been on the rise for the
manian, vice president of product manage- last few years, and mobile substitution in
ment for Navini Networks. the U.S. market alone is expected to be
For the last year or more, long before around 10%. And leading the charge for
the IEEE ratified the 802.16e standard on mobile substitution, for the most part, is a
which Mobile WiMAX is based in December young demographic market segment—18
2005, Subramanian and many other people to 34-year-olds (though the trend is most

2 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

 M
service already connected to it, not buying eanwhile, at the same time that tainment. Something like that is a Mobile
a phone and then waiting for someone to Mobile WiMAX is emerging and WiMAX application. There’s a lot of store-
come out to your house to connect it or to personal broadband is taking shape, and-forward video possibilities. There’s the
wire your house.” the nature of existing mobile service also is whole emergence now of viral videos, and
Having said that, as Mobile WiMAX and changing, as mobile data traffic is increas- that can be another killer app in the way
the concept of personal broadband become ing on the 3G networks of the traditional that people will want to share things.”
more broadly commercially applicable over mobile service providers, and new content- And the future will not revolve only
the next year or so, the kinds of applications based services—not just games or, most around whatever Apple Computer thinks
that consumers may use personal broadband recently, music services, but also mobile of next. The migration to richer hand-held
for may not be so far removed from exactly TV and other kinds of video program-
the kind of applications they use a broad- ming. 3G networks and devices “[The killer app
band landline connection for today—Inter-
net access, voice over IP, downloading music,
are starting to catch on to the
idea that consumers want video
for WiMAX] will
sending the occasional photo. However, content, and even traditional be whatever
having the mobility while performing these TV programming, to be capable people are doing
tasks will be a huge change for most people. of being removed from their liv-
Navini’s Subramanian said, “The initial ap- ing rooms and their cable TV or at the time they’re
plications for personal broadband will be landline broadband connections. It connected.”
some of the same things that you do with a is a trend that Hollywood and the rest of —Carlton O’Neal, Alvarion
wired broadband connection, and that’s re- the community that develops and produces
ally no big shakes, right? It will be a matter of much of the TV and other video content we devices capable of voice, data, video and
user preference, but the idea is also that the enjoy may be well ahead in understanding. other applications has been in progress
user can perform that task in their preferred The popularity of a device like the video for a while now. As Subramanian pointed
way, at their preferred time and place.” iPod is just one example of that trend. out, laptop personal computer sales have
O’Neal added, “There will be a killer “The video iPod is kind of a revolution surged year after year to the point where
app for WiMAX, and that killer app will be in itself,” Alvarion’s O’Neal said. “That’s sales of laptops have now moved ahead of
whatever people are doing at that time that because it is helping to shift the paradigm sales of desktop PCs. Most laptop PCs now
they are connected.” in the way that people are consuming enter- can be purchased not only with the typical
Ethernet high-speed landline connection
port, but also with integrated Wi-Fi con-
nections and service activation software.
Some laptops even have integrated or card-
based 3G services packaged with them.
Meanwhile, 3G phones, data devices and
storage devices like iPods are all converging
in various ways.
“Broadband systems kind of augur each
other,” O’Neal said. “You’ve got all these
access methods and devices, and as they
are all converging on the market, there will
be an amazing proliferation of applications
that come. It will be like what originally hap-
pened in the PC market—the applications
will come from the explosion of devices that
are positioned to take advantage of them.”
New types of devices are still emerging
as Mobile WiMAX marches toward the per-
sonal broadband future. The Ultra-Mobile
Personal Computer (UMPC) has been in de-
velopment at Microsoft since at least 2002,
and the software giant unveiled its first
UMPC last month at the CeBit trade show
in Hanover, Germany. The device, touted
by Microsoft as an “anywhere, everywhere”
communications and entertainment device,
includes software such as Sling Media’s
store-and-forward content solution and
Intel chips with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth con-
nectivity. Samsung is said to be working on
a UMPC version that will have WiBro con-
nectivity, based on the standard in South
Korea that is based on 802.16e and will

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 3

 MOBILITY

SKY LIGHT RESEARCH’S WiMAX PRODUCT GRID

Vendor Multiservice Proprietary WiMAX-2004 WiMAX-802.16e Current IP Current IP WiBRO
Mobile– Mobile–
CDMA Flash OFDM
Adaptix Motion 2100 Motion
AirSpan AS4020 ASWipLL, AS4030 AS MAX AS.MAX road map
Alcatel OEM Alvarion Evolium WiMAX base
station
Alvarion WalkAIR, BreezeAccess BreezeMAX BreezeMAX road map
eMGW Breeze2000
Aperto PacketWave PacketMAX PacketMAX
Networks
Arraycom iBurst
Axcera Axity (UMTS)
Axxcelera AB Access ExcelAir 70 ExcelMAX (3.5)
AB Max (5.8)
Cambridge VectaSTAR VectaMAX
Broadband
Ericsson OEM Airspan Road map
Flarion/ RadioRouter
Qualcomm
Harris ClearBurst MB
IPWireless NodeB Base
station
Motorola MOTOwi4 MOTOwi4 UltraLite
Canopy products products
Navini RipWave MX RipWave BS and
modems
NextNet Expedience Road map
Nortel Road map with LG/Nortel joint venture LG/Nortel joint
Airspan venture
PointRed MicroRed
Technologies
Proxim Tsunami TeraMAX Tsunami MP.16
Wireless
Redline AN100 RedMAX
Samsung Road map RAS bs, CPE
chips in existing
terminals
Siemens WayMAX WayMAX Family 450 MHz
@vantage road map
Soma SoftAir System Road map W-CDMA macro
base station
SR Telecom AirStar Angel (named changed Symmetry ONE Symmetry MX
to Symmetry ONE)
Trango Access 5830 and FOX
Broadband
UTStarcom MovingMedia
6000 -
TD-CDMA
Information up to date as of March 17

Vyyo V251 Wireless Modem,

V3000 wireless hub
WaveRider/ LMS Family Road map
Source: Sky Light Research

WaveWireless
Wavion Space time processing
technology
WiLAN Ultima 3, AWE, Libra Libra MX
families
ZTE ZXBWA-3E ZiMax 450 MHz CDMA

4 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

be a profile within Mobile WiMAX.
Future UMPCs likely will include “You will see a very quick migration
some form of Mobile WiMAX away from the typical handset as a
connectivity.
“Mobile WiMAX eventually cellular voice device. All different kinds
will be integrated into laptops of access methods are driving that.”
and all other kinds of devices,” Na- —Chris Knudsen, Intel
vini’s Subramanian said. “It starts
with a PC card being added to some
laptop, and it evolves very fast from there.”
Arno Kolk, vice president of marketing
for manufacturing firm Elcoteq, said, “We
expect to see wide variety of user devices
from fixed outdoor CPEs to handsets. There
are many different applications, each best
served with a different device. Remote
farms or villages are best connected using
fixed CPEs with large high-gain antennas
while mobile users in downtown business
districts would like to use familiar PDAs,
laptops or smartphones.”
Chris Knudsen, chief technology officer
of Intel Corp’s service provider group, added,
“You will see a very quick migration away
from the typical handset as a cellular voice
device. All different kinds of access methods
are driving that. With Mobile WiMAX, you
will have services with greater spectral effi-
ciency, and devices will come together.

WiMAX. WiFi. Why, yes.

Combining WiFi and WiMAX on tomorrow’s devices promises
to bring ultimate mobility to users worldwide, and Intel is leading
the industry to make this vision a reality. Earlier this year, Intel
demonstrated a single chip, multi-band WiFi/WiMAX radio enabling
connectivity for a full spectrum of mobile and ultra mobile PC
devices. Additionally, Intel confirmed that it was developing for
release a mobile WiMAX PC card for its Intel® Centrino® mobile
technology-based platforms. The bottom line, wherever you
see Wi-Fi today, you will see WiMAX tomorrow. For more
information on how Intel is driving global WiMAX adoption,
visit: www.intel.com/go/wimax
.©2006 Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel. Leap ahead., Intel. Leap ahead. logo
and Intel Centrino are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its
subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved.

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 5

 MOBILITY

Mark Whitton, vice president and gen-

TYPES OF ACCESS TO A WiMAX NETWORK eral manager for WiMAX at Nortel Net-
works, said, “To label 3G and WiMAX as
purely competitive or purely complemen-
Definition Devices Locations/ Handoffs 802.16- 802.16e
tary ignores the subtle strengths and weak-
speed 2004 nesses of the unique wireless technologies
involved. 3G was designed to deliver ubiq-
Fixed access Outdoor and Single/ No Yes Yes
indoor CPEs stationary uitous voice in a mobile environment and
Nomadic Indoor CPEs, Multiple/ No Yes Yes is building upward from this strong base
access PCMCIA cards stationary to also deliver higher-bandwidth services
to highly portable devices. It carries with
Portability Laptop PCMCIA Multiple/ Hard No Yes
or mini cards walking speed handoffs it the burden of backwards compatibility,
Simple Laptop PCMCIA Multiple/ Hard No Yes and the complexity of implementing layers
mobility or mini cards, low vehicular handoffs of services on top of each other,” he said,
PDAs or speed adding, “WiMAX is focused on dramatically
smartphones dropping the cost per megabit for wireless
Full mobility Laptop PCMCIA Multiple/ Soft No Yes broadband, while simultaneously delivering
or mini cards, high vehicular handoffs
a real and significant increase in end-user
PDAs or speed
smartphones bandwidth through the magic of OFDM
and MIMO. These two business cases over-
lap at the edges and will inevitably compete
Source: Senza Fili Consulting, on behalf of the WiMax Forum with each other to some degree.”
Still, for many service providers and ven-
“You will see new devices that are richer still pretty rough around the edges. Some dors, Mobile WiMAX seems worth waiting
on features and new form factors. You will people view Mobile WiMAX as directly and for, to the degree that several service pro-
get away from the network being the main overwhelming competitive to 3G, while viders, such as BellSouth, are only recently
thing and to devices that are intelligent and others see it as a broadband solution that is taking a more active interest in the WiMAX
personal and reliable. Then, the market driv- more a direct relation and next-generation Forum’s Mobile WiMAX certification ef-
ers will start to take effect, driving cost out alternative to location-dependent broad- forts just as they are starting to heat up.
of the devices, which will drive up volume.” band services. One thing is certain: 3G is Likewise, although several of the major
Alvarion’s O’Neal even sees the poten- out on the market and beginning to enter a equipment vendors opted to pass on the
tial for cars as broadband devices, taking maturation phase while Mobile WiMAX is Fixed WiMAX opportunity, they are now as-
advantages of the eventual Mobile WiMAX still a work in progress based on a standard sembling their strategies in order to attack
capability for mobile handoffs at vehicular approved only a few months ago. Operators the Mobile WiMAX opportunity.
speeds. “Why couldn’t you have a car that of 3G networks are getting some experience “There has been some waiting on the
is synchronizing up with all kinds of differ- with mobile broadband that companies sidelines with Fixed WiMAX, but all the big
ent database as you are driving? It’s getting waiting for Mobile WiMAX may take a little iron vendors will have some way of address-
map information or downloading music,” longer to acquire. ing Mobile WiMAX,” O’Neal said. “Some will
he said. “It changes the whole idea of a
satellite radio.” FORECAST OF WORLDWIDE WiMAX SUBSCRIBERS
That kind of scenario may truly rely on FOR FIXED WIRELESS BROADBAND ACCESS
the availability of “anywhere, everywhere”
connectivity. Intel, like at least one or two
other chipset developers, is creating an in- 10,000 6
tegrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX chipset because the 9000
Thousands of subscribers

company believes that making wide area 5

8000
broadband subscribers

connectivity and local area connectivity 7000

available in the same integrated package is 4
Percentage of

6000
another thing that will help service provid-
5000 3
ers deliver new broadband services more
economically. 4000
2
“There is a lot of capex involved in build- 3000
ing networks and subsidizing devices, and 2000 1
carriers should have more ways of making 1000
money from these devices,” Intel’s Knudsen 0 0
said. “Wi-Fi and WiMAX are very similar 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
from a standards point of view, and they are
both IP, so it makes a lot of sense.” New fixed broadband WiMAX subscribers
Although Wi-Fi and WiMAX are very Percentage of total broadband subscribers
cozy partners, particularly in large-scale
wireless mesh architectures, the relation- Source: iSuppli Corp.
ship between Mobile WiMAX and 3G is

6 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

have their own systems, and some
will have OEM arrangements with “Mobile WiMAX eventually could replace
other vendors.” This also could wired broadband—not now, but soon
drive some consolidation in the
vendor community during the
we’ll see at least a low penetration
product development phase of ... In 20 years, it could be a complete
WiMAX, many people believe. replacement. ”—Paul Sergeant, Motorola
The product development and
pre-commercial phase for Mobile personal broadband isn’t just one kind could replace wired broadband—not now,
WiMAX is expected to extend for the rest of broadband, but the only kind. “About but soon we’ll see at least a low penetration
of this year, with product certification at 10 years ago, people were asking if mobile of Mobile WiMAX. In 10 years, it will be
the WiMAX Forum expected to happen late telephony really could replace landline,” much bigger, and in 20 years, it could be a
this year and early next. The forum recently Sergeant said. “Mobile WiMAx eventually complete replacement.” ◗
chose TTA, an independent lab in South
Korea as it first certification testing house
for Mobile WiMAX profiles. The testing
plan is still being worked out, but sources
from WiMAX Forum member companies
said there are likely to be two initial phases

Accelerate Your
for Mobile WiMAX certification testing.
The first phase most likely will address
gear in the 2.3 GHz spectrum band, the fre-
quency that is being used for WiBro in South

Broadband Opportunities
Korea and which also is being targeted for
usage in several other countries. In the U.S.,
BellSouth owns a healthy stock of 2.3 GHz
licenses. Many equipment vendors and
carriers said they believe that the 2.5 GHz Today’s carriers realize that the broadband wireless race is on. They can’t afford to wait
frequency, which is owned in the U.S by while their competitors capture market share! At NextNet, we believe in performance
Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, BellSouth and oth-
and the power of the proven business case. Our Expedience® pre-Mobile WiMAX system
ers, would be next. The 2.5 GHz spectrum in
some countries had been barred from being operates on licensed frequencies and is the carrier’s choice for accelerating market share
used for a service with mobility—some- and business profitability worldwide. What’s fueling this mass-market acceptance? Maybe
thing which many people blame the propo-
nents of GSM mobile service—but those it’s the convenience of a wireless IP gateway that supports all IP-compatible broadband
restrictions are now being lifted. applications, including mobility, VoIP, video streaming and gaming. Maybe it’s the simplicity
“There is a significant demand for of a NLOS plug & play solution that doesn’t require users to install software or to configure
802.16e-based systems already, even
though Mobile WiMAX trials really haven’t their computers. As a principal member of the WiMAX Forum™, NextNet is accelerating the
gotten started yet,” said Paul Sergeant, path to industry standards by delivering on the promise of Mobile WiMAX features today.
senior marketing manager of alternative We’re building high performance networks now for subscriber growth and market share
access for Motorola. “The 802.16e chips are
only now starting to appear.” expansion, and we’re leading the way, developing the advanced technology for future
At the same time, the telecom industry standards compliance. Call NextNet today and let
is still working on those two other impor-
us help you accelerate your business plan.
tant migrations, the self-service evolution
and the IMS evolution. Both will contrib-
ute significantly to the success of Mobile
WiMAX. Self-installation is fast becoming
a must-have capability in broadband wire-
less access systems. Carriers and vendors
want to make it as easy as possible to
install to give it a competitive advantage
that separates it from earlier generations
of residential broadband services. Mean-
while, “IMS will be essential to Mobile
WiMAX,” Sergeant said. “It’s the glue that
takes care of the roaming between different
access networks.”
With important telecom technology 9555 James Ave. S.
migrations all coming together at once, Suite 270
the industry really can foresee a time when Minneapolis, MN 55431

952-929-4008
www.nextnetwireless.com

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX

©2006 NextNet Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NextNet and Expedience are registered trademarks of NextNet Wireless, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 CONSUMER EXPERIENCE

Learning
FROM EXPERIENCE
As the industry awaits Mobile WiMAX, carriers and vendors are getting
valuable experience from trials and commercial deployments to help

W
them improve the user experience. By Dan O’Shea
When AT&T recently proposed to acquire cations Services (WCS) spectrum band. then that the company is aiming to meet a
BellSouth, telecom industry observers The company initially deployed service goal of having 22 base stations deployed in
talked about the potential far-reaching last August in Athens, Ga., offering access the 2.3 GHz range by 2007 to comply with
implications for a number of different speeds of 1.5 Mb/s, and has since deployed minimum use requirements for the WCS
technologies and markets: Will BellSouth in Biloxi, Miss.; Gulfport, Miss.; New Or- spectrum formulated by the FCC.
adopt AT&T’s architectural approach to leans; Palatka, Fla.; and most recently in Also in late January, BellSouth issued
IPTV? How will the two companies’ vari- DeLand, Fla., in January. Susan Steele, a further request for proposal for broad-
ous hardware and software vendors be senior director of wireless broadband for band wireless equipment in the 2.3 GHz
affected? Would the combined entity ac- BellSouth, said in late January that the and 2.5 GHz ranges, what Steele at the
celerate implementation of IP multimedia carrier’s broadband wireless expansion plan time referred to as a “WiMAX RFP,” even
subsystem components and its pursuit of called for it to continue aggressively de- though WiMAX Forum-certified equip-
fixed/mobile convergence? ploying base stations and building out new ment is not yet available in 2.3 GHz and
These are all important questions that markets through 2006 and 2007. She said 2.5 GHz profiles. Steele, though, also said
will affect the future of the companies,
their vendors and their customers, but
one question that was not being asked was:
How will these companies, if they complete
their proposed merger, integrate their
strategies for WiMAX? With the deal likely
to take a year or more to close, it may be a
while before we know the answer. In the
meantime, WiMAX will continue to evolve,
and AT&T and BellSouth each probably
will continue to learn from the broadband
wireless experience they are already gain-
ing through their own separate trials and
commercial rollouts.
WiMAX Forum-certified customer
premises equipment, handsets, laptop
cards and other subscriber access gear is
not yet crowding the shelves at all the
big-box consumer electronics retailers, but
that has not stopped service providers and
vendors from gathering information that
will help them shape the experience on end
users to come.
BellSouth has been particularly busy
with broadband wireless. The company
owns spectrum licenses in both the
2.5 GHz former Multi-channel Multi-
point Distribution Service (MMDS) band,
as well as the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communi-

8 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

 somewhere near the $20 per month range.
WiMAX CPE PRICING POTENTIAL Meanwhile, Sprint’s experience with the
2.5 GHz spectrum has been star-crossed.
As volume increases, CPEs will decrease. The decrease in price will be rapid as equipment The company originally began offering
manufacturers try to get a stronghold on the consumer market. MMDS services at least seven year years
ago, but the solution never caught on and
$ 400 in 2001, with 52,000 customers signed
350 up, Sprint stopped actively marketing the
service. Later, in mid-2002, the company
300 began trials with both Navini and IPWire-
250 less but has never committed to a broad
commercial rollout (Though it recently
200
extended its trial with IPWireless). Also,
150 last summer, just before the merger with
100 Nextel closed, Sprint signed on with Mo-
torola to do an 802.16e technology trial
50 and to contribute to the development of a
0 Mobile WiMAX solution. Sprint also has a
2004 2005 2007 2010 WiMAX-related partnership with Intel.
To top it all off, Sprint Nextel said late
CPE ASP Source: Sky Light Research last year that it was teaming with Samsung
Telecommunications America to test tech-
that BellSouth would be working within the nounced in early 2005 and closed last Au- nologies based on 802.16e, presumed to in-
WiMAX Forum to coax the group to work on gust, Nextel already was pursuing tests clude WiBro, which Samsung pioneered in
these profiles. and field trials of pre-WiMAX broadband South Korea. (It was the primary vendor for
The RFP was intended to detail the wireless systems, including solutions using one of the first public trials of WiBro with
importance of price and speed-to-market orthogonal frequency division multiplex- Korea Telecom at the Asia-Pacific Economic
requirements. “Price is a huge issue, and ing (OFDM) from Navini Networks, IP- Cooperation summit last November.)
the bar has been set in broadband by DSL Wireless and Flarion Technologies, among Barry West, chief technology officer of
and cable modems already,” she said. Steele others. OFDM is the technology specified Sprint Nextel, said the relationship would
did not say where and how soon BellSouth in the IEEE’s 802.16-2004 standard. In its provide the carrier with important informa-
plans to commercially deploy the equip- earliest trials, Nextel, which operated an tion about infrastructure and handsets by
ment. “We’d like to get the responses and iDEN network, was looking for a wireless testing Samsung terminals in lab and in field
choose vendors to get something in our lab upgrade alternative that could match 3G. environments but also would provide guid-
by the second quarter,” she said. Company executives said at the time that ance for developing future services. “The
AT&T also has been pursuing its own they were looking for a broadband service agreement with Samsung will help align
strategy for WiMAX. The company launched solution that could be offered to customers technologies and validate requirements for
trials in Middleton, N.J., and in Atlanta
over the last couple of years, and though ROAD MAP FOR WiMAX USER DEVICES
the New Jersey trial only involved a single
pre-WiMAX base station and a couple of en- 802.16-2004 802.16e
terprise customers, the Atlanta trial was ex- WiMAX WiMAX
panded last summer to involve several sites.
In public speeches over the last two years,
different AT&T technology executives la- 2006 First certified products
mented the shortage of viable and available Outdoor CPE
spectrum in which WiMAX could be de- Indoor, self-installable CPE
ployed in the U.S.—for the trials, the carrier PCMCIA card for laptops
giant worked with spectrum “on loan” from
the FCC. The merger with BellSouth would 2007 First certified products
seem to help solve that spectrum problem,
at least to some small degree. PCMCIA card for laptops,
Even before AT&T and BellSouth an- indoor self-installable CPEs
nounced their planned deal, there was an-
other service provider megamerger—the 2008 Mini PCMCIA card
union of Sprint and Nextel—that had
broadband wireless and WiMAX as one for laptops
of its footnotes. Both Nextel and Sprint
owned spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, and PDA, smartphone
their marriage made Sprint Nextel the 2009
single largest owner of 2.5 GHz spectrum.
Source: Senza Fili Consulting, on behalf WiMAX Forum
Before their merger, which was an-

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 9

 CONSUMER EXPERIENCE

future wireless offerings,” he said. “We are kets in the U.S. over the 2.5 GHz spectrum year. Jose Antonio Abad, CEO of MVS.net,
evaluating multiple options for 2.5 GHz and serves other markets in Belgium, Ire- said in January that average call volume
applications and fostering strategic rela- land, Denmark and Mexico, among others, was 1.6 million calls per month, generat-
tionships with ecosystem partners that are over 3.5 GHz spectrum. Clearwire typically ing more than 3.7 million VoIP minutes
vital to progress on next-generation wireless offers service between $30 and $37 per per month across Mexico City, Monterrey,
broadband access and infrastructure.” month, according to its Web site, and access Guadalajara, Toluca and Mexicali.
After Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, the Kirk- speeds are about 1.5 Mb/s for downlink MVS.net is a carriers’ carrier. Some of its
land, Wash., service provider founded by and 256 kb/s from uplink. clients include Avantel (a joint venture of
Craig McCaw, probably is the second-larg- Clearwire’s Mexican partner, MVS.net, MCI), Alestra (a joint venture of AT&T) and
est owner of licenses in 2.5 GHz spectrum. has been particularly busy of late, work- its own ISP Ego. Miguel Calderon, Avantel’s
The company has been quietly but busily ing with vendor NextNet Wireless, which executive vice president of marketing, said
launching networks over the last three itself is owned by Clearwire, to launch after the launch, “We are thrilled with the
years in several countries. It serves 29 mar- voice over IP and data services earlier this rapid uptake—our subscriber base is grow-
ing beyond our expectations, and call vol-
umes are on the rise. We are experiencing
the mass-market appeal of this technology
firsthand and are happy to report that we
are already ahead of our forecasted unit
sales by 20%.”
In Europe, service providers have been
particularly aggressive deploying pre-
WiMAX services. Irish Broadband has
used equipment from Alvarion, Navini and
others to offer a wide variety of services
and bandwidth classes to both businesses
and consumers for a range of monthly fees.
Iberbanda in Spain has been similarly ag-
gressive, deploying Aperto Networks gear
as part of a national network buildout that
began in early 2005. Service providers in
Kiev, Ukraine, and Islamabad, Pakistan, WIMAX SERVICE TYPES
also recent deployed Aperto’s system at
3.5 GHz.
The trial and commercial rollouts are Service Type Description
giving all of the service providers in many
countries necessary experience in selling
Unsolicited UGS is designed to support real-time data streams
broadband wireless to the masses. Though
grant services (UGS) consisting of fixed-sized data packets issued at
the industry is still very early in the evolu-
tion of WiMAX, with only a handful of periodic intervals, such as T-1/E-1 and VoIP.
actual WiMAX Forum-certified systems
commercially available so far, these service Real-time rtPS is designed to support real-time data
providers have banked important informa- polling service (rtPS) streams consisting of variable-sized data packets
tion about what their customers are willing that are issued at periodic intervals, such as
to pay and how they want to use the service. MPEG video.
They are also already bringing broadband
to the table for applications that can’t be
addressed in other ways. NextNet customer Non-real-time nrtPS is designed to support delay-tolerant data
Evertek, a wireless ISP in Sioux City, Iowa, polling service (nrtPS) streams consisting of variable-sized data packets
deployed a solution for the local police for which a minimum data rate is required, such
force that enables police officers to access as FTP.
and send information from their cars over
a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In
Best effort (BE) BE service is designed to support data streams
one situation, police are even able to access
a video streaming feed to monitor security for which no minimum service level is required and
at a local high school. which can be handled on a space-available basis.
Roxanne White, general manager of
Evertek, said, “We were thrilled that we did Source: WiMAX Forum and Westech Communications white paper
not have to wait for WiMAX technology.” ◗

Fixed and Mobile WiMAX

Airspan’s AS.MAX product line for Fixed and Mobile WiMAX
includes four distinct Base Station types and Indoor and
Outdoor CPEs and a 16eUSB USB Device.

EasyST
Airspan Networks is the The World’s First Indoor WiMAX Modem
new leader in Broadband • Add-on Wi-Fi AP and 2 port VoIP
Wireless and WiMAX IAD with Battery Back up
systems, and are proud to • 4 x 90 Degree Auto Selecting
7.5dBi antennas
be a charter board
• +24dBm Output Power
member of the WiMAX • Support for Switched Diversity, and
Forum. Uplink Sub-channelisation
• SIM Card support for Operator ID / Frequency Selection

HiperMAX and MicroMAX-SDR

The world’s first Dual-Mode, Fixed and Mobile
WIMAX Base Stations
• Full support for 256 FFT OFDM and 512 and
1024 FFT SOFDMA
• Supports 2 x 2 MIMO, and 4-Channel Beam
forming Smart Antennas
• Operates in all key WIMAX Bands
(2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3-3.7 GHz, 4.9 GHz)

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 11

 VoIP

WiMAX Puts Service

QUALITY ON DISPLAY
Depending on where you live, VoIP could be a killer app, a necessity

J
or both. And quality isn’t necessarily something that carriers and users
are willing to sacrifice. By Dan O’Shea
Juan Pablo Alfaro believes in the benefits of NextNet. “In a competitive market situ- different zones—metropolitan areas as de-
WiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting ation, the quality of service has to be like termined by our municipality—of the city
for them to mature. The general director what you would get from a landline telco.” from day one. This would have been impos-
of MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched Alfaro said MetroVia is very focused on sible with any other wired application.”
four different cellular companies busily bandwidth management, measurement and The reasons that Alfaro gives for going
build out their separate networks in Guate- traffic shaping in its network and in coop- wireless are exactly the reasons most people
mala City, each of them setting up their own eration with its ISP customers. “Each ISP in the WiMAX community believe that qual-
60-meter antennas at every potential cell uses bandwidth differently, and we have, ity VoIP can be a killer app in a developing
site location in the city, all just to sell what basically agreed to work together to traffic country. Far and wide, in Latin America,
was basically the same service. shape all protocols needed for applications Asia and Eastern Europe, there are many
The company saw an opportunity to beyond surfing and e-mail,” Alfaro said. service providers that have rapidly begun
become a broadband wireless service pro- For MetroVia, going with a wireline tech- offering VoIP over broadband wireless con-
vider using a wholesale model that would nology was not necessarily an alternative. nections. In some markets, there are simply
encourage competition in the market for “Getting wiring permits in our cities is no alternatives, while in other markets,
services like voice over IP (VoIP). “Our vi- almost impossible,” Alfaro said. “Also, the there is intense competition. Quality is key
sion was to build a single WiMAX network economics of deploying a plug-and-play ap- in both environments.
for all to share,” he said. “It did not make plication over a wired application are much “You can do VoIP over any kind of con-
any economic sense to build an indepen- better. Thanks to our wireless network, we nection, but can you do real ‘IP telephony’
dent network for every operator. Instead, have been able to provide services in all the with all the quality features over that con-
we envisioned building a single network for
all ISPs that could benefit from the fact of
sharing Capex with multiple operators.”
MetroVia has two ISPs on their network
offering Internet access today, and one of
which will be offering a VoIP product over
the network.
Alfaro said his company has been work-
ing closely with vendor NextNet Wireless
to ensure its capability to offer a quality
VoIP service. “The issue of VoIP and QOS
in our network is a major concern,” he said
“For registered ISPs with VoIP products
registered in our network, we are able to
offer QOS and allot specific resources for
their VoIP calls.”
That is accomplished with the help
of a NextNet system capable of distin-
guishing and defining different layers of
service.“Voice over a broadband wireless
system is still something that the industry
is relatively new at,” said Chuck Riggle,
vice president of business development for

12 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

nection?” asked Paul Sergeant, senior mar-
keting manager for alternative access for WIMAX SERVICE CLASSES
Motorola. “There is a difference.”
Service Type Real Time? Application Type Bandwidth
The WiMAX Forum created service qual-
ity types that are relatively similar to exist- Interactive gaming Yes Interactive gaming 50 – 85 kb/s
ing quality types for wireline packet service VoIP 4 – 64 kb/s
quality types, such as best effort, available VoIP, video Yes
conference Video Phone 32 – 284 kb/s
bit rate, variable bit rate and constant bit
rate. “The Applications Working Group in Music/speech 5 – 128 kb/s
the WiMAX Forum came up with different Streaming media No Video clips 20 – 384 kps
application configurations and defined
how much latency or jitter is acceptable for Movies streaming > 2 Mb/s
different services,” NextNet’s Riggle said. Instant messaging < 250 byte messages
For WiMAX, the corresponding service Information No Web browsing > 500 kb/s
quality types include best effort, non-real- technology
time polling service, real-time polling ser- E-mail (with attachments) > 500 kb/s
vice and unsolicited grant service. QOS was Media content Bulk data, movie download > 1 Mb/s
not part of the very first wave of WiMAX download No
(store and forward) Peer-to-peer > 500 kb/s
Forum certification testing late last year
and early this year, but several vendors have Source: WiMAX Forum and Westech Communications white paper
been adhering to these quality expecta-
tions for a while. to be careful. In a network with different tions, as it is designed to support real-time
“QOS wasn’t part of [first-wave] certifi- kinds of applications and expectations for data streams that have predictable packet
cation testing,” said Elvis Tucker, director performance, you want to have a way of sizes. Meanwhile, the real-time polling
of solutions and alliances for Aperto Net- managing that nailed-up connection on an service type is designed for bursty traffic
works. “QOS is not mandated in the stan- end-to-end basis.” containing variable packet sizes—that
dard either. While those service types are The top-level service type in WiMAX— corresponds directly to the nature of most
defined, how the service flows are actually unsolicited grant service—is the one that video applications.
managed is not. That’s where vendors need targets high-quality voice communica- Even if whole real-time polling service

Ripwave MX
TM

Industry’s first
dual mode product line

Available now!

Navini Ripwave MX Modem

TM

Navini Ripwave MX Base

TM
Navini Ripwave MX TM

and PCMCIA Card Stations and Antennas Element Management System

www.navini.com

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 13

 VoIP

seems right for some video appli-

cations, Aperto’s Tucker notes “WiMAX is the way of the future simply
that users who are increasingly because of the ease and practicality
getting used to the idea of being
able to watch TV on their mobile of having a portable Internet access
phones ultimately may not toler- application that allows us to service
ate shaky or distorted video.
“In some ways, video is even a
clients efficiently.”—Juan Pablo Alfaro, MetroVia
more sensitive application than voice,” each deployed Aperto’s recently WiMAX said this, I believe WIMAX is the way of
Tucker said. “It requires a lot of bandwidth Forum-certified system for multiple ser- the future simply because of the ease and
and can’t really tolerate much latency.” vices, including voice and video. practicality of having a portable Internet
NextNet’s Riggle added, “I’m not sure Applications requiring some promise of access application that allows us to service
that WiMAX will be a direct replacement quality have taken off well ahead of WiMAX clients efficiently without truck rolls or
for something like cable TV but maybe for Forum-certified products becoming a mass- waiting times.”
streaming applications or specialized video market phenomenon. As for the evolution But, he added, “In Guatemala, we say, ‘he
applications.” of WIMAX, MetroVia’s Alfaro is eagerly an- who strikes first, strikes twice.’ WiMAX will
Tucker, whose company also has de- ticipating the benefits of standards, prod- be integrated into our network as it becomes
ployed VoIP networks for many carriers uct certification and interoperability, but he an interoperable standard.”
worldwide, estimates that at least 50% have knows that the broadband wireless success Although service providers like Metro-
some form of voice applications going over story is already being told. Via and VNSL are getting a jump on the
their networks. “We have one that is even “The great elusive WIMAX,” he said. competition, it’s important to note that
running Vonage’s service over its network,” “What is it? I think WIMAX as the stan- the worldwide market for VoIP and video
he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica- dard we all imagine as the perfect mobile, over IP is still relatively young, with much
tion we see after Internet access, and I would high-bandwidth application, with limit- more room to grow and mature. “You see
say that video is in the 20% to 30% range.” less possibilities of access and undenied numbers like 1 million new VoIP users being
In many cases, VoIP is being deployed restrictions of usage, is not here today,” added every quarter,” Tucker said. “When
as part of a multi-service mix for specific he said. “There are plenty of issues that you see that kind of growth, you realize
customers in specific types of markets. Last need to be settled before WIMAX gives us that WiMAX will only continue to benefit
month, VSNL in India and CSM in Indonesia all the benefits we expect from it. Having from that.” ◗

Welcome to our global garden.

In electronics manufacturing services for communications technology business, we are the only partner you need.
Our services - specially tailored for telecom products - cover the whole lifecycle of communications network equipment
and terminal devices.

As the need for establishing local product supply without huge investments keeps growing, we have set a network of
13 plants on four continents at your service. From us you will get all the local knowledge and services needed for producing
your innovations in lucrative markets around the world. Brazil, Russia, India or China, for instance.
Step in our garden and let us fertilize your growth. Contact us: [email protected] or www.elcoteq.com

14 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

 OFDMA

OFDMA Prepares
TO MOVE ON
The technology’s different flavors have been around for some time,

I
but the 802.16 effort created an industry standard around them.
By Kevin Fitchard
In the last few years, orthogonal frequency nology, designed to meet the
division multiplexing access vendors made guidelines that have been laid
quite a splash, promising high-capacity, out for Mobile WiMAX and the
mobile broadband access well ahead of when IEEE’s 802.16e standard. The
WiMAX and 3G services were expected potential for Mobile WiMAX is
to be available. However, more recently, simply enormous, with poten-
that hype has died off. After Qualcomm tial profiles from the WiMAX
aannounced
nnounced its acquisition of OFDMA’s big- Forum targeting the 2.5 GHz
ggest
est booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff and 3.5 GHz frequencies that
Flarion Technologies—in August 2005, the are available and in use in many
relentless push to commercialize OFDMA as countries worldwide, as well as
a proprietary technology has ceased. 2.3 GHz and other frequencies.
Why? OFDM pioneer Adaptix has a sim- Those initial WiMAX Forum pro-
ple answer: standards. OFDM technolo- files also will cover a wide range
gies have been so readily embraced by the of bandwidth channel specifica-
standards bodies for both the broadband tions, including 5 MHz, 7 MHz,
wireless access industry and the cellular 8.75 MHz and 10 MHz.
industry, that pursuing the technology To continue to target niche
independently of the WiMAX Forum or the markets with proprietary tech-
two major 3G standards bodies—3GPP and nology makes little sense, if a
3GPP2—is pointless, said Mike Pisterzi, standardized version of that
CEO of Adaptix. technology would grab the mass
OFDM was implicit in the 802.16-2004 markets as well as niches, too,
standard that created the foundation for Pisterzi said. “If a vendor is com-
Fixed WiMAX, and OFDMA was written fortable with a non-standard technology to form one high-speed transmission.
into the 802.16e specification ratified last and a small customer base, that’s fine,” The difference between OFDM and
December by the IEEE and will pave the way Pisterzi said. “But the industry as a whole OFDMA is that OFDMA has the ability to
for Mobile WiMAX solutions. is moving toward standardization.” dynamically assign a subset of those sub-
“OFDMA is mandatory in the 802.16e carriers to individual users, attuning the

T
standard—it’s actually S-OFDMA, or scal- hough often mistaken for one technology to the particular demands of
able OFDMA,” said Paul Sergeant, senior another, OFDM and OFDMA are actu- mobility. Thus, OFDM technologies occupy
marketing manager for alternative access ally two different variants of the same nomadic, fixed and one-way transmission
for Motorola. “So, we are doing OFDMA, technology. Both divide one extremely standards, ranging from TV transmission
and we’re all doing it, and it is also one of “fast” signal into numerous “slow” signals, to Wi-Fi as well as well as Fixed WiMAX
the reasons why 802.16e is not directly each spaced apart at precise frequencies. and newer multicast wireless systems like
backward compatible to 802.16-2004.” The advantage here is that those individual Qualcomm’s Forward Link Only (FLO).
Although many products based on the slow signals, or subcarriers, aren’t subject to OFDMA, however, adds true mobility to
802.16e standard are still in the develop- the same intensity of multipath distortion the mix, forming the backbone of Mobile
mental phases, Adaptix has its own sec- faced by a single-carrier transmission—the WiMAX and the 3GPP’s new standards for
ond-generation OFDMA Motion product data is traveling slowly enough that the 3G long-term evolution (LTE). Further-
line available with deployments in Asia. effects of the distortion become negli- more, S-OFDMA allows for an increase
However, it’s betting the farm on its up- gible. The numerous subcarriers are then in range of channel bandwidths from
coming release of its third-generation tech- collected at the receiver and recombined 1.25 MHz up to 20 MHz.

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 15

 OFDMA

“Mobile WiMAX, or 802.16-2005, is re- even the most complicated smart antennas
ally misnamed,” said Mark Whitton, vice can deliver,” Whitton said.
president and general manager for WiMAX Nortel unveiled its LTE product line,
at Nortel Networks. “802.16-2005 is an called high-speed OFDM packet access
ideal solution for mobile, portable and fixed (HSOPA) at the 3GSM World Congress in
implementations of WiMAX, and it is essen- Cannes, France in February. The platform is
tially a superset of 802.16-2004, with sig- intended to pick up where the latest UMTS
nificant performance advances like MIMO uplink and downlink upgrades leave off.
and scalable OFDMA.” Nortel already plans to have a prototype
On the 3G side, the 3GPP recently final- built by the end of the year, ready for lab
ized the initial list of requirements for 3G tests, and carrier trial equipment ready by
mobility and coined the term LTE. The pre- 2007. Qualcomm is pursuing both OFDM
liminary specs call for a complete shift in 3G and OFDMA, using OFDM for its multi-
standards away from wideband-CDMA to cast technologies and in its pursuit of the
OFDM, meaning the future of wireless tech- 802.11n standard for the evolution of wire-
nology and its billions of users is headed in less LAN. And with its $600 million acquisi-
Paul Sergeant of Motorola
OFDMA’s direction. Cellular system vendors tion of Flarion completed in January, Qual-
have jumped all over the new specifications, comm is lending the weight of its $1 billion to support the existing product line and its
shoehorning years of research in OFDM and annual R&D budget to further development existing customers but offered no insight
related technologies like multiple input/ of Flarion’s OFDMA technology toward the as to whether it would continue to pursue
multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam IEEE 802.20 standard, a broadband wireless the portfolio or simply wrap the technology
forming into the new standards track. technology that not only has mobility but up in its other OFDMA efforts. Regardless
“Where conventional smart antenna really fast mobility (the typical example is of Flash’s future as product line, Qualcomm
systems deliver performance gains by add- that of a user maintaining a constant data is definitely gung-ho on the underlying
ing complex, costly and bulky equipment connection while riding a bullet train). technology itself.
to the tower top, MIMO takes advantage As for Flarion’s Flash OFDMA technol- “Qualcomm has the scale to exam-
of smaller and simpler changes in both the ogy, Qualcomm isn’t quite so definite. Jeff ine a broad range of technologies,” Belk
devices and the infrastructure to deliver per- Belk, Qualcomm senior vice president of said. “We’re not committing to just one
formance improvements well beyond what marketing, said the vendor will continue product.” ◗

IMPOSSIBLE
> MADE SIMPLE

What was once improbable is now reality, thanks to WiMAX technologies made
possible by Nortel. Innovation and beyond. That’s why 9 out of 10 Fortune 500
companies rely on Nortel.
n o r te l . c o m
>BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE
Business Made Simple, Nortel, the Nortel logo, and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.

16 The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

 Q&A

Donna Carlson
SKY LIGHT RESEARCH
Sky Light Research has done numerous reports over the last five years tracking and
forecasting various developments in the broadband wireless and WiMAX markets. Its reports
follow the market’s course from point-to-point and point-to-multipoint LMDS and microwave
equipment through to Fixed WiMAX and the nascent and future development of the Mobile
WiMAX market. The agency’s WiMAX product grid can be found on page 4. Donna Carlson,
a principal analyst at Sky Light Research who just recently joined the firm, talked with

O
Telephony editor-in-chief Dan O’Shea about the WiMAX dynamics at play as 2006 unfolds.

On Fixed WiMAX that we’ll see won’t be Mobile WiMAX, but

versus Mobile WiMAX: the WiBro profile within Mobile WiMAX.
I think it’s always been clear now that the At the same time, I don’t think that WiBro
customers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus- will provide a full picture of what we can
tomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two expect from Mobile WiMAX. There is some
completely different groups of customers. question about how soon we will see full
The certification for Fixed WiMAX equip- mobility hand-off at vehicular speeds, and
ment and the current deployments are that is something that I am really interested
showing that. The first wave of certification in seeing. So, we will see how quickly the
for Fixed WiMAX equipment was really fo- technology progresses. At the same time,
cusing a lot on interoperability of outdoor other mobile broadband technologies are
systems, so I don’t think there was is ex- progressing. There are things like HSDPA
pected to be a real end-user market push for (high-speed downlink packet access), and
that. Some vendors chose to wait for Mobile so Mobile WiMAX is not just evolving in its
WiMAX, but there are still a large number own window.
of vendors of Fixed WiMAX systems that
have built a road map for 802.16e. Mobile On other potential market
WiMAX promises new economies of scale hurdles in the evolutionary
that will drive down price, and that will, of path for Mobile WiMAX:
course, drive volume and adoption up. I think you could add spectrum availability
Donna Carlson of Sky Light
to the top of the list of hurdles. Spectrum
On talk from some corners licensing is still a challenge in a lot of don’t you think? You don’t really know
about VoIP being a killer app countries around the world. Then, there what you are going to have and what you are
for Fixed WiMAX: are things like power management. That working with until you get it on the bench.
VoIP is available on many broadband wire- is a big concern. The hurdles may have It sort of depends on what you think you
less networks, and it is inevitably going to more to do with the inherent complexity need to change once the pilot projects have
be a main application of broadband wire- of 802.16e. There will have to be a lot of been developed.
less networks in the long run. It could be different profiles created.
an application that is driving deployment On the use of smart antenna
in countries in less developed markets, On whether there still technology in Mobile WiMAX
whereas data and other types of services will could be adjustments systems:
be driving applications in countries that are to the 802.16e standard It’s a given that anyone building a system
in more developed regions. (last-minute changes based on 802.16e is probably going to be
delayed Fixed WiMAX using some form of smart antenna technol-
On the evolution of certification earlier this year): ogy. Whether that is some variation of smart
802.16e to Mobile WiMAX: That is kind of customary with standards beam forming or MIMO (multiple input/
Keep in mind that the very first mobile model or with any kind of certification process, multiple output) remains to be seen. ◗

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 17

www.wimaxforum.org