Na Imprensa

Telecommincations - New and (Soon) Improved

The Wall Street Journal

By Sarmad Ali

Long-awaited wireless technology is finally beginning to appear around the world. But there's an even better version of it just on the horizon.

The technology in question is called WiMAX, and it holds out a very powerful promise: an inexpensive wireless alternative to wired broadband Internet service, such as DSL and cable.

With WiMAX, the service provider doesn't have to pay to string cables to users' homes to give them Internet access. Instead, the provider broadcasts a signal from a central location and users pick it up with antennas in their home -- something like a Wi-Fi network that can cover several miles instead of several yards. But WiMAX offers much better reliability than Wi-Fi and the potential to reach higher speeds than wired broadband.

A host of providers have deployed WiMAX around the world, mainly as a cheap and quick alternative to wired service in areas where broadband infrastructure is hard to build or doesn't exist at all, such as developing countries. But the current version of WiMAX, which is called "fixed," has a flaw: It doesn't work well with mobile gadgets. The system can't easily hand users off from one WiMAX coverage area to another, so if you leave your provider's area, you lose the signal.

Enter the new and improved version: mobile WiMAX. It does everything fixed WiMAX can do but also lets you roam easily between coverage areas. Even better, it offers much faster speeds and capacity than the data networks currently used for mobile devices. So, it could serve as an alternative to both regular wired data networks and mobile ones -- making it much more useful for users and much more lucrative for WiMAX providers.

Now companies are lining up to help develop this new technology, which is still in the testing stage. In some cases, they're setting up fixed-WiMAX systems first, to stake a claim to a chunk of wireless spectrum and grab early market share. Then, when the bugs are ironed out of mobile WiMAX, they'll switch over.

Even some big telecommunications carriers, such as Sprint Nextel Corp., are joining the race, seeing WiMAX as a high-speed complement to their existing cellular networks. The carriers may use their regular networks to carry plain email to mobile gadgets, for instance, while the higher-capacity mobile WiMAX would handle larger chores such as streaming music and movies.

Along with Sprint Nextel, Clearwire Corp., of Kirkland, Wash., is committed to deploying mobile WiMAX in the U.S., says Tara Howard, an analyst at Yankee Group. Clearwire has announced plans to test a mobile-WiMAX system in Oregon, and Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. are backing its efforts. Other potential providers "are in the trialing phases, testing the technology and figuring out whether or not it would be a good investment," Ms. Howard says.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled the SPH-P9000 Deluxe MITs earlier this month -- a personal digital assistant that will be able to access the Internet with mobile WiMAX and make calls over a regular cellular network. The gadget will make its debut in South Korea, which has introduced two wireless networks that use a system similar to mobile WiMAX, in the first half of next year.

The big hurdle for both versions of WiMAX -- short for World Interoperability for Microwave Access -- is limited space on the wireless spectrum. Like backers of any new wireless technology, WiMAX proponents must carve out a place on the spectrum and convince regulators to open up more space for their use.

Now WiMAX providers are rushing to snap up chunks of available space, and are lobbying governments to open up additional bands for WiMAX use. Meanwhile, regulators are struggling with the rights and obligations that should come with these licenses, particularly in markets where cellular providers have paid a premium to buy space for their data services.

"There is no silver bullet for resolving this issue," says Philip Marshall, an analyst at Yankee Group. However, he adds, major deployments by big service providers such as Sprint Nextel should prompt regulators to address the problem.

Despite the difficulty, fixed-WiMAX networks are springing up around the globe. According to TeleGeography Research Group, a division of PriMetrica Inc., there were 22 commercial fixed-WiMAX networks globally and there were 53 trials under way as of the end of September. (A fixed-WiMAX network is a series of WiMAX stations that covers many miles, creating blanket coverage.) Europe boasts the most networks in place, with 12 commercial WiMAX networks as of the end of September, including systems in Germany, Ireland and the U.K.

And those numbers are likely to rise. For instance, Alvarion Ltd., a WiMAX-equipment maker based in Tel Aviv, says it has sold a fixed-WiMAX product to about 40 companies with 120 deployments globally, including Spanish operator Iberbanda SA, Chile's Entel SA and Irish Broadband Ltd. "There is significant licensing activity in all regions of the globe and initial investments in networks," says Mr. Marshall. He predicts that infrastructure-equipment expenditures on WiMAX will increase to $3.9 billion in 2010 from $550 million this year.

Fueling the interest in WiMAX is a simple problem: There's big demand for broadband services world-wide, but traditional wired services can be tremendously expensive or difficult to install. At least 15% of the U.S. market and large portions of the rest of the world don't have broadband infrastructure and can't get it through regular land-line connections, according to a report by Yankee Group.

As fixed WiMAX begins to spread, the mobile version is gearing up. The WiMAX Forum, a Portland, Ore., group that is in charge of WiMAX product certification, has said it currently has two test-and-certification labs that are preparing to accept mobile products later this year, with the first mobile forum-certified products expected early next year.

Until mobile-WiMAX products are formally certified, some providers are putting fixed systems in place for the time being. Then they plan to introduce mobile services using their existing infrastructure as the technology and the markets mature.

Take Clearwire. Last month, Intel announced, in conjunction with Clearwire and Motorola, that work has begun on a mobile-WiMAX trial in Portland that is expected to run through 2007. But Clearwire is also planning a broad deployment of fixed WiMAX, rolling out networks in select U.S. and international markets by the end of this year, including Seattle, Raleigh, N.C., and Chico, Calif.

The company already sells wireless Internet access to 162,000 customers in 33 markets in the U.S. and overseas, using a proprietary technology that's similar to fixed WiMAX. The cost of service varies by market, but plans range from $29.99 to $49.99 a month.

Intel has invested $600 million in Clearwire to help deploy mobile WiMAX. Motorola has acquired Clearwire's subsidiary NextNet Wireless Inc. and will supply wireless-broadband equipment for Clearwire's existing and future networks globally.

"As mobile-WiMAX technologies become commercially available, Clearwire intends to deploy wireless networks based on these technologies in markets of all shapes and sizes across the U.S.," says Ben Wolff, Clearwire's co-CEO.

Then there's Sprint Nextel, which plans to pour $3 billion into developing mobile WiMAX in the U.S. Other phone companies, such as BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc., offer WiMAX-like fixed-wireless services to provide broadband access in rural areas and other hard-to-reach spots. But Sprint Nextel would be the first to plunge into mobile WiMAX, which the company thinks offers a greater opportunity than fixed services. "Customers want the home or office Internet experience in alternate places," says John Polivka, a Sprint Nextel spokesman.

The telecom giant wants to launch the service in the fourth quarter of 2007 in a few markets and expand to major metro areas throughout 2008. By the end of 2008, Sprint Nextel hopes to have the service available to at least 100 million people.

Sprint says it has no plans to abandon its current mobile networks. Routine data and voice traffic will travel on Sprint's existing networks, while mobile WiMAX, the fastest data lane, will handle the heaviest-bandwidth applications, such as streaming video on cellphones. That way, those beefy applications don't clog up the cell networks people rely on for phone calls.

Indeed, most WiMAX advocates say that mobile WiMAX will simply complement current mobile technologies. But some experts aren't so sure. Mr. Marshall of Yankee Group agrees that in some respects mobile WiMAX will work with existing technologies. For instance, WiMAX will probably be used more for delivering media than phone calls. But, he says, "the reality is that the technologies will compete since they are ultimately converging on similar market opportunities."

Some analysts, meanwhile, question whether mobile WiMAX will be an easy sell among consumers. Even after the technological and regulatory kinks are ironed out, companies will need to convince consumers of the benefits of the service, such as devising compelling high-speed applications.

Mobile WiMAX will provide a lower-cost mobile broadband alternative to existing 3G services, says Ms. Howard of Yankee Group. But, she argues, selling customers on cost won't be enough. WiMAX providers will need to convince users that the service is actually faster and more useful than existing services, or else they won't see a need to switch.

"It will still have to prove itself as a viable alternative speed-wise for mass adoption," she says. "Consumers will need to see the tangible benefits of subscribing to WiMAX."

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