WiMAX Bigger Than Sprint, Bigger Than US
19 January 2008- WiMAX Ecosystem Update
Executives from five major WiMAX equipment makers - Intel, Motorola,
Nokia, Nokia Siemens and Samsung - plus Barry West, chief of
Sprint’s Xohm WiMAX venture, gathered in a room at CES to update the
world on WiMAX. They ended up voicing support for WiMAX in the wake
of Sprint’s recent financial and management turmoil, describing
WiMAX as bigger than Sprint and bigger than just the US.
West said that the WiMAX ecosystem has progressed to a point where
it is now beyond Xohm and that WiMAX’ future is not tied to what
Sprint does with Xohm.
“We are out to globalize the technology,” said Fred Wright, senior
VP of cellular networks and WiMAX at Motorola. “Xohm is important to
help launch WiMAX, but that’s not where it ends.”
A complete audio recording of the session is available at
http://www.xohm.com/CES-Xohm.mp3
Nokia to Provide WiMAX Capable Internet Tablets
Nokia’s VP of sales Chris Dailey said in his self-introduction that
Nokia intends to become a leader in Internet services for mobile
devices - watch out, Google and Apple. Nokia, he said, shares Xohm’s
WiMAX vision of mobilizing the Internet and intends to provide
appealing WiMAX-enabled devices. WiMAX, he said, is important to
Nokia’s product strategy, especially its Internet tablets.
Available to 5b by 2015
Harald Braun, head of the convergence business team at Nokia Siemens
Networks, said his organization is working with its parents - Nokia
and Siemens - to build WiMAX infrastructure. The global goal, he
said, is to have WiMAX available to five billion people by 2015.
What makes WiMAX different from other wireless broadband
technologies such as LTE and HSPA, Braun said, is that WiMAX is
real. LTE is not. And Nokia Siemens knows that because it is also
involved in LTE development. No one wants to wait anymore, he said;
people don’t go back.
WiMAX is a big pipe that is here and now and will change things.
Intel’s Vision of Devices That Have WiMAX Embedded
What will make WiMAX succeed, said Sprint’s West, is its “heavy
hitting partners,” especially Intel’s vision of embedding WiMAX
technology in devices.
That’ll make it “easy, affordable and widely available,” he said.
Repeating Sprint’s WiMAX mantra, West said, “The promise of WiMAX is
to mobilize the Internet.”
Other factors that will contribute to WiMAX’ success, according to
West, are:
- Mobile phones are consumers’ most wanted device. Xohm will
increase the value because users will be able to access online
software and services such as SalesForce.com. Xohm will publish
details on the operating system to software and service providers so
they can develop products that will run on WiMAX connected devices.
- Sprint already owns the spectrum needed for WiMAX
- Xohm will offer access speeds equal to the wired broadband that
people get at home.
- It’ll be affordable. The competition is DSL, not the mobile
service operators. Makers of cameras and gaming devices are expected
to purchase Xohm at wholesale rates and include it in services they
sell such as online picture sharing services and online games.
WiMAX, he said, is a broadband experience unlike 3G access.
Concerning the global spread of WiMAX, West said Sprint had already
met with over 100 carriers from around the world that are interested
in deploying WiMAX networks.
140k WiMAX Subscribers in South Korea
Hwan Woo Chung, VP of Samsung’s mobile WiMAX group, said testing for
device interoperability is already well under way. Samsung expects
to launch a WiMAX-capable Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) during the second
half of this year. There’ll also be WiMAX dongles for existing PCs
and a digital media player. Samsung is building the WiMAX
infrastructure in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area.
KT (Korea Telecom) launched WiMAX in South Korea in April and has
140,000 subscribers. Two different companies have obtained the
bandwidth needed in Japan to launch WiMAX networks.
Motorola’s Global WiMAX Reach
Motorola’s senior VP and general manager Fred Wright said his
company’s build out of Sprint’s WiMAX network in the Chicago area is
on schedule.
Motorola’s dual mode WiMAX/Wi-Fi chipsets are ready for device
makers to buy, he said. Like Wi-Fi and unlike mobile phones, WiMAX
devices will be compatible with WiMAX networks worldwide. There are
three possible frequency bands for WiMAX in 90% of the world and the
same WiMAX device will access all three of them.
Wright summarized Motorola’s WiMAX global activities:
*17 WiMAX contracts in 16 countries
*”Engagements” (negotiations?) in another 12 countries
*60 WiMAX trials
*3,000 access points are available
*35,000 consumer premises devices (CPE) are in use
Wright said that the capability of chipsets for mobile devices is at
the stretching point. WiMAX chipsets will exceed them in processing
and memory. Motorola expects to have some of its WiMAX devices
available in the late third or early fourth quarter.
WiMAX speeds are expected to be 5 Mbps-10 Mbps this year.
Continuation of Existing Trends
Sriram Viswanathan, managing director of Intel Capital and general
manager of Intel’s WiMAX program office, said WiMAX is a
continuation of existing trends: multimedia as part of PCs, the
Internet itself and wireless Internet worldwide. WiMAX, he said,
would be a true mobile Internet with worldwide reach and
compatibility. It will change the business models for laptop PCs and
consumer services.
WiMAX, Viswanathan said, is bigger than Sprint, bigger than the US.
Xohm Pricing
West cast some light on what Xohm expects to charge. Monthly fees
would be based on a person, not a device. It’s easily imaginable
that a person would have several WiMAX devices - one for phone calls
only, another that’s a smart phone and perhaps a WiMAX digital
camera to make it easy to e-mail and upload videos and pictures.
“We may charge you for multiple devices, but not linear. We may
reach a point where you have a certain number of devices and we
won’t charge you more,” West said.
But the most important thing he may have said is, “We will see
service rates that are similar to what people are paying for
Internet access now.”
That’ll make Xohm a direct competitor to the mobile networks’ much
slower and limited Internet access. It could also be a threat to
telcos’ low-speed residential broadband offerings - and a wonderful
opportunity for folks who live in areas where wired broadband is not
available.
“People will be excited about our rates,” West said. “They won’t be
ecstatic about them because we’re not going to give it away.”
Consumers will be able to buy access by the hour, day, week, month
or even longer, like a long-term contract. But the long-term
contract will not be required because Xohm will not subsidize the
devices as cellular phone companies currently do. Any WiMAX
certified device will be able to get access, he said, not just those
that Sprint sells.
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