Deploying and Managing Femtocells in Today's Mobile Networks

Consumers have begun to demand ubiquitous voice and broadband data connectivity from their mobile networks, from inside buildings and from the convenience of their own homes. Operators can achieve this indoor coverage by deploying more towers with large base stations coupled with paid backhaul links to each tower; however, this approach is prohibitively expensive to deploy and operate. This situation is driving operators to explore alternative, cost-effective solutions for increasing wireless coverage indoors.

WiMAX Opportunities in Africa


The growth and development of WiMAX in Africa has taken place mainly during 2006-2007. At the beginning of 2006, the WiMAX subscribers figure for Africa was just a few thousand. But according to the WiMAX Operator Tracking Service, WiMAXCounts, at the end of 2007 that continent accounts for more than 20,000 WiMAX subscribers.

Interview with Dragonwave, Inc

DragonWave was founded by a group of people out of Newbridge Networks (which subsequently became Alcatel). They were working in LMDS and decided that they could design and build a better radio than they could buy on the market. They designed a microwave radio solution that can be assembled on a standard surface mount assembly line, reducing cost, improving scalability and reliability and delivering high performance. The company decided rather than to become yet another PDH/SDH radio vendor to concentrate on the emerging high capacity.

Planning for Enhanced Indoor Coverage and High Capacity in WiMAX Networks

Many WiMAX operators are at a crucial stage in planning or deploying WiMAX networks. Their wait to obtain the necessary spectrum licenses, to get the initial delivery of Mobile WiMAX products, or to select a vendor is either over or about to end. Finally they are ready to start rolling out their networks and test them in real-life environments, with paying subscribers, on loaded networks.

The Appeal of Mobile WiMAX in Emerging Countries

Mobile WiMAX may find early adoption in emerging markets, if the right devices become available. New technologies like WiMAX are typically successful first in developed markets where disposable incomes are higher and new devices and services are adopted earlier.

Optimization and Sensitivity Analysis of a WiMAX Business Case

In Part 1 of this three part series article, we outlined the process of gathering the input parameters for a comprehensive WiMAX business case. In Part 2 we discussed how to define a variety of service plans and marketing plans in order to build the top line in a WiMAX business case. Here we will focus on the process of selecting the key performance indicators that have the greatest effect on a WiMAX business case, the process of performing sensitivity analysis, and the process of optimizing a WiMAX business case.

Wind Telecom and Nortel Get Set to Deploy Nationwide WiMAX in the Dominican Republic

As one of the first new service providers in the world to launch a nationwide WiMAX network, Wind Telecom is set to bring affordable broadband services to customers in underserved areas of the Dominican Republic as well as the country's major cities.

Service and Market Planning for a WiMAX Operator: Business Case

In Part 1 of this three part series article, we outlined the process of gathering the input parameters for a comprehensive WiMAX business case. Here we will discuss how to define a variety of service plans and marketing plans in order to build the top line in a WiMAX business case.

Critical Inputs to a WiMAX Business Case


The WiMAX Industry has seen much enthusiasm in the last two years as measured by the number of field trials taking place on a global basis. The industry claims well over 300 trials worldwide. High profile trials and a few early deployments have dominated the media.

WiMAX CASE STUDY: Ertach's WiMAX Experience in Argentina

Ertach (previously Millicom Argentina) was founded in 1998 by Millicom International Cellular and the business group Sociedad Comercial del Plata (SCP). In that year, Ertach was awarded licenses of 50 MHz of spectrum in the 3.4-3.7 GHz frequency band for data transmission and value-added services.

Zoom on XOHM - An Update from the SPRINT Technology Summit

Two weeks ago, I attended the Sprint Technology Summit. The event had an estimated 300 attendees, including industry analysts, Sprint employees, and Wall Street analysts. The day's morning session consisted of briefings from Sprint top management on the most recent announcements and plans. The afternoon was organized into breakout sessions with live demos and short presentations.

WiBro Update

WiBro is a hot topic in Korea these days. In less than three months after the commercial launch of WiBro in April, Korea Telecom has accumulated 20,000 WiBro subscribers, raking in 6.3 billion won of revenues in Q2 2007. In July, KT disclosed that  new subscribers were being added each day and was expecting 10,000 more subscribers in July than in June.

Roaming, key to the success of WiMAX- there is no second chance

While a significant part of the future success of WiMAX will be dependent on successful roaming, its implementation is complex and challenging to achieve. Bram Jan Streefland, co-founder and managing director of Trustive, Europe's largest wireless hotspot provider explores what it will mean to the industry if we get this wrong, highlights how the industry must learn from the initial mistakes made by WiFi, and proposes that the role of the wireless IP clearinghouse will be fundamental to its success.

WiMAX out of Band Backhaul Solutions

WiMAX technology solves the last mile access problem, but how do you cost effectively backhaul the traffic generated by these services?

Evolution of QoS And Charging Framework in WiMAX

This article presents the recent advancements in the area of charging and dynamic QoS management in both the 3GPP and the WiMAX Forum respectively. It also explains the process of integrating such disparate networks in order to ensure end-to-end QoS and charging control.

One WiMAX subscriber, multiple devices
 

Most communications services are currently tied to one contract and one device. For instance, a GSM mobile subscriber has a pre- or post-paid account that is typically associated with a SIM card and it is the SIM card that, when inserted into a particular device, designates that device as being live on the account. The subscriber can use a different phone by moving the SIM card, but only one phone can be used for communication at any one time. Even bundled services respect this rule: they offer a discount on the overall bill, but mostly treat devices and services as independent products.

Navini Drives Mass-Market Consumer Broadband

Few companies understand the personal broadband market better than Navini Networks. The company, based in Richardson, Texas and with sales and development officers throughout the world, has been marketing its own flavor of personal wireless broadband equipment before WIMAX and the 802.16e standards were even conceived.

Sprint Nextel's Plan to 'Mobilize the Internet'

WiMax.com recently sat down with Barry West, President of 4G Mobile Broadband at Sprint Nextel to get an update on the US carrier's grand ambition to build a $3B mobile WiMAX network. The carrier already operates a high-speed CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A network, but expects the cost advantages of WiMAX to have the same effect on mobile broadband adoption as the cellular industry experienced.

Distributed Network Architecture for WiMAX

The world is moving to IP and service providers in all geographies are embracing the shift. Leveraging the IP foundations of WiMAX technology and the demonstrated benefits of IP systems including rapid cost declines and ease of management, a distributed WiMAX network architecture takes the service provider community one step closer to differentiating their services in a digital, converged, mobile IP world.

WiMAX in Russia - Perspectives from a Leading Service Provider

One of the cornerstone tenants of the WiMAX is to bring modern communications to emerging markets like China, India, and Russia. Quite simply, in countries where the wire-line infrastructure is obsolete and antiquated, it would make good economic sense that Internet and telephony be delivered by modern, low-cost, wireless technology.

Exclusive Interview with Clearwire, Leading WiMAX Service Provider

It goes without saying that those familiar with WiMAX are also familiar with US based service provider Clearwire. Founded in October 2003 by wireless pioneer Craig O. McCaw, the company launched wireless broadband service in August 2004 and now offers coverage in 38 metro markets in the US, as well as locations in Ireland and Belgium.

WiMAX Network Economics

Most of the discussion about WiMAX technology and economics has been centered around the radio access network (RAN) and customer premise equipment (CPE)/handsets. For services to be deployed profitably, however, the economics of the entire network, including backhaul infrastructure, and installation and leasing costs, must be considered. In this larger view, it quickly becomes clear that the RAN is only a portion of the overall picture and costs.

WiMAX Antennas - A guide to MIMO and Beamforming

Wireless operators are increasingly pressured to enhance their networks and service capabilities in order to keep pace with the accelerating growth in wireless utilization and increasing demand for high performing connections.

Is modular design the enabler for WiMAX equipment sales in 2007?


The broadband wireless industry is making tremendous progress with the evolution of fixed WiMAX technology and achieving device interoperability testing (IOT). Despite the efforts to develop a large, reliable ecosystem and to align the supply chain for accelerating broad-spread market adoption, volume shipments are not there yet.

Voice Over WiMAX - Changing the rules of Telecom

The WiMAX technology, being the solution of choice for next generation broadband application is designed from its core assumptions to deliver large throughput and a variety of applications - IP connectivity, voice and video.

Beceem's WiMAX Vision

What company is leading the world in WiMAX Mobility? Well if you ask a Lars Johnsson, VP of Business Development for Beceem Communications, the answer is simple - Beceem Communications.

Mobile Television Meets WiMAX

What happens when you take two of the most popular technologies in the last 50 years - television and the cell phone - and bring them together?

What Every Company Needs to Know about Mobile WiMAX and QoS

Currently, the wireless broadband space is getting ready to transition from the Fixed version of the WIMAX standard termed 802.16d-2004 to the Mobile form: 802.16e-2005

Five Essential Elements of WiMAX Security

For years one of the biggest drawbacks to broadband wireless networks was security. With the advent of WiMAX and precursor WiMAX networks, what was once a weakness is becoming strength.

OSS Component Integration

In our first article dealing with OSS basics and with the various OSS subsystems, we touched upon the crucial task of integrating or closely coupling the various subsystems so that the network as a whole exhibited a pervasive intelligence.

WiMAX and OSS

Most WiMAX networks operating today have, at best, rudimentary OSS (Operations Support Systems).  This puts them at a clear disadvantage in respect to established landline networks, almost all of which utilize extensive suites of OSS software.

Backhaul for WiMAX Networks - Part II: Architecting for Success

It is imperative that WiMAX service providers build and maintain their own backhaul networks. It is unlikely that any other service provider of any type (fiber, telco, CATV) can adequately support the demands for a carrier grade WiMAX network given the needs for high aggregate bandwidth, independence from potential competitors and demanding Quality of Service and security needs.

First Mile Technologies for Broadband Distribution

Multitenant units (MTUs) or (MDUs for multi-tenant units) offer a high concentration of potential broadband-access customers whether they are residential or commercial, so carriers are increasingly looking at how to better address telecommunications services within the multitenant building.

Backhaul for WiMAX - Part I

This is the first of two articles on backhaul to support WiMAX access. This article will deal with preliminary technical considerations in choosing a backhaul solution. A second article will deal with considerations for architecting the backhaul solution.

WiMAX Convergence

To understand the current and past tumult of the BWA market and the emergence of WiMAX, one first needs to understand the drivers for broadband connectivity and the overall market trends.

The WiMAX Symphony

Last week I attended the Digital Music Conference in Miami Beach. It was refreshing to be listening (literally) to presentations and panels focusing on end-user aspirations and experiences, as opposed to the usual talk around technology, protocols and processes!

Service Providers' Challenges and Expectations for Mobile WiMAX

Last week, I have provided some insights about fixed broadband application and traffic trends and some of the challenges that current and future WiMAX fixed service providers will have to deal with.

Service Providers' Challenges and Expectations Regarding Fixed WiMAX

The primary challenge all operators face is satisfying the growing expectations of users for ever more capable, easier-to-use and more universally available communications and broadband services.

Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options?

So you want to roll out a WiMAX service for fun and profit? You go to WiMAX World and go from vendor booth to vendor booth checking out the vendors. They are uniformly professional and qualify you without asking any seemingly tough questions such as "So, what spectrum should we build your WiMAX radios for?" they politely ask. "Spectrum? What's that and why is it important?" you ask.

The Business of Broadband: Layers of Revenue, Part-1

Here I will discuss all aspects of running a wireless broadband business - we will cover business models, marketing strategies, politics and all other issues affecting you as a wireless ISP.

The Business of Broadband: Layers of Revenue, Part-2

There are three primary layers in the model; (1) the broadband physical infrastructure, (2) ISP's value-added services and (3) content.

The Business of Broadband: Layers of Revenue, Part-3

There is a growing number of applications that require good bandwidth upstream from the consumer to the internet.

Enterprise 2.0 - Another Revenue Opportunity For The ISP

It seems that as the web is growing there are more and more opportunities for the ISP to grow their business and find new revenue opportunities.

WiMax.com Tech Spotlight - Advantages of Commercial WiMAX Test Systems

A major testing decision for WiMAX access and core network vendors and carriers is the classic build-or-buy decision. Should they develop in-house test tools, or purchase a commercial tool suite?

WiMax.com Tech Spotlight - Service Providers Can Automate Subscriber Pre-Qualification

When service providers can reliably reduce their customer acquisition costs, they increase their return on investment. On-site customer visits, or "Truck rolls" are expensive and inefficient. So how do service providers control these costs?

Free Voice is a Revenue Opportunity for ISPs

VoIP makes possible more than just lower prices, however. It also means that, provided you have a broadband connection, you can choose from a number of providers of VoIP telephony and related add-on services, such as voicemail, conference calling or video.

Airspan positions itself to meet the future across all of its product lines.

802.16 has undergone a fundamental shift in perception since the first specification was approved more than three years ago.

AWS spectrum could be used for media play by Google, Amazon and others.

The key difference in this approach is that as the ISP you do not charge your customers for content they will "pull down" over your network.

Innovative WiMAX launch WiNetworks aims to meld terrestrial WiMAX and Satellite/Broadcasting plays into a new monster business model.

Brazil consolidating its position as highly attractive wireless market.

High stakes for all with vendor choice to be made within six months.

WiMAX laptop cards promised by end of 2006 with Wi-Fi support & Intel invests in Beceem to accelerate mobile WiMAX and watch Samsung.

One of the surprises of recent months has been the robustness of the market for proprietary broadband wireless access syste

Patents remain issue says Forum, but 802.16e testing the most pressing issue.

An Evaluation of the Latin America Market.

Open base station efforts spread to WiMAX

One-third of OBSAI members now active in WiMAX
Multi-network architectures increase need for commodity base stations Open platform to be fully defined this year.

Sprint Nextel in Clearwire spectrum swap, stepping up RBOC challenge

Spectrum deal points to united front against Bellcos.

The Real WiMAX Advantage

Smart antennas use, OFDMA and specifically the spectral efficiency of OFDMA are routinely offered as the advantages of a mobile WiMAX. The true competitive strengths of WiMAX may prove to be elsewhere.

WiMAX vendors start to take keen interest in Wi-Fi and metrozones

WiMAX vendors like Airspan start to cross border to Wi-Fi Alliance.

Evolution path for fixed WiMAX sought as mobile standard ratified

Two months after the 802.16e mobile WiMAX standard was frozen, it was officially approved by the IEEE last week, a welcome milestone that steps up the pressure on the WiMAX Forum to ensure the platform becomes commercially viable as quickly as possible.