India’s Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has fixed Jan. 14 as the tentative date for the auction of 3G licenses in the country, according to a notice on its Web site on Saturday.
An auction of licenses for operating broadband wireless services like Wimax will be held two days later, DOT said. The government will also auction on that day spectrum for enhanced CDMA (code division multiple access) services to existing CDMA licensees.
Russian WiMax operator Yota will soon begin offering its customers a WiMax terminal that can make VOIP calls — and hand them over to a GSM network when the caller wanders out of the WiMax coverage area.
Last November, the company introduced a terminal from High Tech Computer (HTC) that can make calls over GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks and connect to WiMax data networks. However, that device cannot be used to make VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls.
WiMax subscriber growth slowed in the first quarter, and the emerging wireless technology will continue to struggle at least through this year, a survey by research company Maravedis indicates.
The global recession weighed down both subscriber additions and the average monthly revenue from business users in the first quarter, according to Maravedis analyst Adlane Fellah. WiMax operators are also running into a variety of other hurdles, including regulation, delayed allocation of spectrum and their own deployment problems, he added.
Clearwire will start offering its mobile WiMax wireless data service commercially in Las Vegas on July 21, building on its still-sparse coverage area with a fourth major city.
The service provider is gradually rolling out a planned national network based on the standardized technology, offering fast Internet access at home and on the road. It launched WiMax service in Portland, Oregon, in January and in Atlanta last month. A Baltimore network turned on last year by Sprint Nextel will also become part of Clearwire’s system. The WiMax service, called Clear, is designed to offer between 4Mb per second (Mbps) and 6Mbps.
Clearwire WiMAXes Vegas on July 21
Clearwire will officially launch its WiMAX high-speed wireless broadband service in Las Vegas on July 21.
They claim CLEAR brings to the Las Vegas region the first super fast mobile Internet service that works as fast on the go as it does at home.
Comcast just became the wireless Internet vendor to beat by offering 4G wireless Internet in Portland, Oregon. Leveraging Clearwire’s WiMax network, this move leaves LTE (Long-Term Evolution), the competing technology, a step behind.
Green Packet Berhad (Greenpacket), a leading developer of Next Generation Mobile Broadband and Networking Solutions, is receiving enthusiastic response from operators in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region for its WiMAX products and solutions. Green Packet has so far entered into as many as 15 WiMAX CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) trialing with operators from 12 countries in the region.
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Alvarion Ltd. (ALVR) shares jumped Wednesday after the WiMax equipment maker announced a five-year contract with Open Range Communications that is expected to be worth more than $100 million.
Intel funds mobile WiMax effort in Japan
The venture capital arm of chipmaker Intel has announced an investment in Japanese WiMax company UQ Communications, which intends to provide coverage to most of Japan by 2012.
Intel Capital announced the $43 million investment on Sunday. Intel has long been a prime backer of the wide-range wireless technology, which it says has been deployed to varying extents in 135 countries.
Intel’s venture capital arm is investing US$43 million in a Tokyo-based WiMax operator that plans to launch the world’s fastest WiMax service in July.
