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| Thursday, 11 October 2007 | |
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Bandwagon rolls on despite Sprint doubts…
Although many commentators opine that departure of Sprint Nextel ceo Gary Forsee (click) has cast serious doubt on the mobile operator’s ground-breaking commitment to mobile WiMAX, there seems to be no weakening of sentiment for the technology in the marketplace overall. And Asia-Pacific appears to be in the vanguard of the charge of the WiMAX brigade. In Japan four consortia – headed up by KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, SOFTBANK and PHS operator Willcom – are understood to have applied for two 2.5GHz WiMAX spectrum licences being awarded by the country’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry (MIC). Big bucks could be involved, with Reuters reporting that SOFTBANK and its partner eAccess could bankroll a network to the tune of US$2.1bn, while the NTT team could punt US$1.7bn on the broadband wireless technology. SOFTBANK and partner eAccess have already capitalised their OpenWin joint venture at around US$171mn, while DoCoMo’s tie-up with ACCA Networks and others could be capitalised at over US597mn. The separate partnering arrangements undertaken by DoCoMo, KDDI and SOFTBANK have been made necessary by the MIC’s decision not to grant 2.5GHz spectrum rights directly to existing operators of 3G mobile services in order to encourage new market entrants. Interesting, KDDI has said that if its Wireless Broadband Planning K.K. (WBPK) joint venture is successful in the licence bid, it sees an opportunity for creating new market segments in co-operation with mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). Elsewhere in Asia Taiwan also looks to have the mobile WiMAX bit between its teeth. This week both Motorola and Nortel have announced major contracts for the supply of WiMAX network infrastructure from FET is one of Meantime, as described in a new study from ABI Research – ‘WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts’ - mobile operators and other service providers are planning mobile WiMAX networks all over the world, mainly in the 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz bands. “The mobile wireless industry is in a state of major change as mobile operators decide which IP-OFDMA path they will take for their 4G networks,” judges principal mobile broadband analyst Philip Solis. “The new and unproven (on a large commercial scale) mobile WiMAX has positioned itself against the potential Goliath that LTE (Long Term Evolution) is expected to become.” Solis points out that while WiMAX equipment interoperability certification timelines have slipped somewhat, and LTE benefits from having evolved out of the widely-deployed GSM technology, WiMAX has at least a two year head start in reaching the market. John Williamson |
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