Nortel to champion UK mobile WiMAX
- Reduce text size Decrease text size
- Increase text size Increase text size
- Print article Print
- Jump to comments Comment
- Share this article Share
- Email article to a friend Email
Nortel has created a consortium to promote mobile WiMAX ahead of Ofcom's 2008 spectrum auctions
Ofcom has temporarily licensed Nortel and two UK partners to create a pilot mobile WiMAX network based on the IEEE’s emerging 802.16e standard, and using spectrum from the 2.6GHz band.
The UK regulator is expected to auction 2.6GHz spectrum in the first quarter of next year, and may consider proposals from WiMAX service operators.
According to Amrit Heer, Nortel’s head of WiMAX business development, mobile WiMAX will offer a cheaper and better performing alternative to existing 3G wireless broadband technologies. Nortel, which builds WiMAX base stations and modems, claims that 802.16e-based networks will support sessions of at least 2Mbps at a tenth of the cost-per-bit of 3G networks.
Heer said the goal of the pilot network “is to prove that mobile WiMAX is deliverable, both financially and technically.”
So far, the company has recruited the support of Urban WiMAX, a licensed operator of 802.16d-based fixed WiMAX in the UK, and Macropolitan, which controls a nationwide network 9,300 radio mast and base station installations.
Nortel plans to recruit other companies to the pilot project, including device manufacturers such as LG, which is already preparing 802.16e-enabled PDAs, as well as other content and service providers.
Although regulators in Holland and Italy have both announced plans to license spectrum for WiMAX use, it is not inevitable that the UK’s Ofcom will follow suit. The 2.6GHz spectrum, whilst considered ideal for 802.16e by mobile WiMAX proponents is also suitable for alternative wireless broadband technologies.
Potential bidders for 2.6GHz spectrum will watch Nortel’s pilot project closely. Technically, 802.16e-based WiMAX systems are still largely unproven, and according to independent experts such as Ovum’s senior analyst Julien Grivolas, it will not be easy for mobile WiMAX operators to differentiate in terms of services. “There is no killer app” for mobile WiMAX compared to technologies such as HSDPA, he said
Further reading
