There have some positive WiMAX announcements over the last week or so. Menatelecom in Bahrain is the first company in the world to launch a nationwide WiMAX 802.16e end-to-end network. Clearwire and Cisco announced an alliance to enhance and expand CLEAR 4G mobile WiMAX services throughout the USA. Comstar is launching service in Moscow.
I could add more positive developments, for sure.
The WiMAX ecosystem consistently generates lots of PR and it’s good to see what’s happened recently. Unfortunately there has also been some equally well publicised bad news. This has included some factors outside the control of WiMAX vendors and network operators such as funding difficulties arising from the credit crunch, and spectrum auction delays.
But there have also been examples where the ecosystem in general hasn’t delivered, resulting in delays to service dates.
Dawn Hogh, Vice President of Marketing at Veraz, says: “I think there’s still a question, especially with the current economic climate, as to how much WiMAX deployment will occur and will we really see WiMAX be a lot slower than was initially expected….”
I agree with Dawn there are doubts at the moment, reflected in our new report this week.
Tags: 802.16e, Bahrain, Cisco, CLEAR, Clearwire, Comstar, Menatelecom, mobile, Russia, USA, Veraz, Veraz Networks, wimax