Mobile broadband to signal demise of WiFi?

The comment by Ericsson needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. In this case the salt being the news which has come out from the WiFi alliance that the use of WiFi has nearly doubled in 2007.

Even though WiFi is available over a small area, it is not an orphan technology as it is being made out to be. The fact is that Mobile WiMAX is emerging as the most important mobile broadband technology. (see http://www.mobiletvhome.com).

While XOHM will be the home run for mobile WiMAX, companies in other countries are not shying from it either. In India, Tata communications is investing over $500 million in WiMAX technologies. There are half a dozen others.

WiMAX will enable thousands of Wifi hotspots to exist without the need for a backhaul for each one. Moreover using generic network access users will be able to move across WiFi and Mobile WiMAX networks seamlessly.

Amitabh Kumar

http://www.wimax-home.com

Nextwave Announces WiMAX based Mobile Tv Platform

10 March 2008

Nextwave® has announced a mobile TV platform based on the use of mobile WiMAX technology.  The Mobile WiMAX technology platform is based on Multicast and Broadcast (MBS)  feature of the Mobile WiMAX technology. The multicast service in mobile Wimax uses macro-diversity features to ensure that all mobiles are able to receive the multicast transmissions. Unlike a unicast transmission of mobile TV which needs capacity for every mobile using the service, a multicast service can be scaled up to thousands of users in the same spectrum. ( See chapter 16- Mobile Broadcasting Using WiMAX- a technology overview).When dedicated for multicast upto 45 TV channels can be supported in a 10 MHz bandwidth carrier.

            Developers of Mobile WiMAX technology and equipment such as Huawei and Alcatel Lucent have already committed to use the Nextwave® technology in their mobile WiMAX products based on IEEE802.16e-2005.

Nextwave Technology- Mobile TV using WiMAX

 Nextwave has used the most powerful features of Mobile WiMAX technology i.e. Multicast and Broadcast Service ( MBS) and macro-diversity. A multicast service in WiMAX can be extended to hundreds of thousands of users, a feature which had so far been not exploited in commercial applications. macro-diversity makes it possible as it ensures that the mobile receives the transmissions from a number of base stations simultaneously. Not only does such a technology use the more readily available WiMAX spectrum ( rather than 3G), the QoS features of mobile WiMAX ensure better delivery over a wireless medium. It also cuts across multiple standards for Mobile TV which have been the bane of the industry.

More details

http://www.wimax-home.com

Telecom Companies Grab Virtually all of US spectrum Auctions in 7000 MHz Band

23 March 2008

Telecom companies have grabbed almost all the licenses auction in the 700 MHz band for a total of $9.63 Billion. The companies include Verizon, AT&T,Qualcomm and Frontier Wireless.

Does it mean that these comanies will get into broadcasting or turn the spectrum over for WiMAX? Mobile TV, in any event is one of the applications set to gain from this result.It will be an interesting Watch.