WiMax

Thursday, June 25, 2009

ALVARION WIMAX GOES

Italy Unwired by Alvarion WiMAX

Alvarion announced today an agreement with Italy telecom operator Aria to deploy Mobile WiMAX throughout Italy. The network will be at the 3.5 GHz frequency to offer broadband services to all 21 regions in Italy using Alvarion’s 4Motion Mobile WiMAX solution.

Italy’s 58 million highly-dense population makes WiMAX the most economical and high-performance technology says the company. Alvarion’s 4Motion is an advanced and field-proven solution for delivering innovative WiMAX services for a range of broadband applications in rural, suburban and urban environments.

Aria currently holds nationwide WiMAX licenses at the 3.5 GHz frequency bands in Italy. By using Alvarion’s Open WiMAX solution, Aria will be able to meet the growing demand for broadband services in the country.

Mobile WiMAX is usually implemented on the 2.3 or 2.6 GHz band, so this network is somewhat unusual. Almost all licenses for 3.5 GHz spectrum in Europe currently restrict usage to fixed or nomadic services (not mobile). Few countries allow the spectrum to be used for mobility services, and other countries are in various stages of planning to open the frequencies for such usage.

Aria S.P.A., founded in 2005, has become one of the most important Italian Wireless Internet Service Providers. In January 2008, Aria won the auction of 3.5GHz radio frequencies in all Italian regions.

Telecom Italia (TI) and Aria signed an agreement to collaborate over WiMAX distribution, enabling the companies to extend access to broadband services in areas not yet reached by ADSL-based services. The agreement grants Aria the right to use TI’s 3.5GHz band frequency allocation in nine central and southern regions of the country (Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sardinia).

In return TI will be able to supply its own customers with WiMAX services via Aria’s nationwide ‘white label’ wholesale offering. TI is Italy’s foremost broadband network, with 36 million subscribers and more than 7 million domestic broadband connections, according to research by Hoover’s.

Although Alvarion did not release the dollar value of the deal, market sources estimate it at $20 million, over three years. Alvarion has signed six contracts since the beginning of the month. The company has an orders backlog of over $100 million.

Alvarion, Open Range To Build 17 State Net

Alvarion, the world’s leading provider of WiMAX and wireless broadband solutions, today announced it was selected by U.S. broadband wireless operator, Open Range Communications, for the nation’s largest Rural Utilities Service (RUS) funded deployment spanning 17 states, 546 rural communities, and reaching up to 6 million people. With this new broadband wireless network, Open Range will begin offering state-of-the-art 4G services to un-served and underserved customers across rural America in the fourth quarter of this year.

Under the terms of the contract, expected to be more than US$100 million over five years, Alvarion will provide radio access equipment, customer devices (CPE) and systems integration.

Some of the unique attributes available through this “always on” wireless broadband network include:

Simple and instant service activation
Voice and data capabilities
WiFi for connectivity to existing PCs
Highly secure network communication

Based on Alvarion’s WiMAX Forum Certified 802.16e BreezeMAX solution, the new Open Range 4G network, will give millions of rural Americans wireless broadband services where they live and work.

“Open Range’s unique business model focuses on delivering wireless high-speed Internet and voice services to un-served and underserved communities,” said Open Range founder and CEO, Bill Beans Jr.

Alvarion was the first WiMAX equipment supplier to receive USDA acceptance as well as “Buy American” status from the USDA RUS for two of its BreezeMAX base stations in July 2008. Both RUS and “Buy American” designations are required for operators requesting federal funds from the Rural Broadband Access Loan program for the purpose of purchasing and deploying broadband systems.

Alvarion offers a complete line of RUS-accepted solutions with “Buy American” status using a range of unlicensed, semi-licensed and licensed frequencies. Alvarion says you can build your rural wireless network using 3.65, 5.3, 5.4, 5.8, 4.9, 2.3 or 2.5 GHz and qualify for funding by using RUS-accepted Alvarion solutions if you are currently working on projects to bring wireless broadband access to rural communities or have plans to develop such projects.

Within the next five years, Open Range intends to serve 546 communities with portable and eventually mobile voice and Internet services, making its services initially available to approximately six million people. In addition to portability, they will offer a minimum speeds of 1.5 Mbps down and 512 kbps up for less than $40 per month with voice less than $30 per month, including unlimited nationwide calling.

Monday, April 13, 2009

HUAWEI WIMAX

Huawei is a finalist for a major WiMAX infrastructure contract with Clearwire, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter, said that Huawei is competing for the contract along with Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks and Samsung Electronics.

Clearwire is likely to choose more than one vendor for its network and it’s unknown how much the potential contract is worth. Motorola infrastructure gear, like the WAP 450 WiMAX Access Point was used in Portland, while Samsung infrastructure was used in Baltimore.

Huawei provides a carrier-level and end-to-end WiMAX solution including distributed Base Stations (BBU3703, RRU3701C), ASN-GW (WASN9770), Network Management System (AAA, M2000), and Customer Premises Equipment.

Its DBS3900 WiMAX base station and at least two of its terminal products, the BM325 and BM625, are are Wave 2 certified by the WiMAX Forum.

As of September 2008, Huawei’s total number of WiMAX 16e commercial contracts had reached 31, ranking Huawei in first place for global WiMAX 16e commercial network contracts.

Huawei’s WiMAX is serving many significant operators including Globe in Philippines, STC in Saudi Arabia, Vodacom in South Africa, Mobilink and Augere/FT in Pakistan, Méditel /Telefonica in Morocco, and Mobily/Etisalat in Saudi Arabia.

Huawei has won smaller deals in the United States, such as regional, low-cost cell phone provider Leap Wireless, but for the most part, the company has struggled to get a toehold in the U.S. market

UQ COMMUNICATIONS ROLLING WIMAX IN JAPAN

Global-Standard Future Broadband Service Start of UQ WiMAX Service and Free Recruitment of Monitors

　Tokyo, On February 26, 2009, UQ Communications Inc. will start a futuristic global-standard broadband service in Tokyo (all 23 wards), Yokohama, and Kawasaki, under the brand UQ WiMAX. This service will enable the use of high-speed mobile data communication using Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e). In conjunction with the start of UQ WiMAX, monitors are being recruited from today, in order to reflect customer feedback in this new service.

Yokohama and Kawasaki are next with Nagoya and Osaka coming online in June. The monthly flat-rate access fee is noted at 4,480jpy, or about $40, and will be available for free until June 30th. They also indicate that “UQ Wi-Fi” service will be made freely available on the Shinkansen for some commercial clients as of March and all customers as of September. A group, including Intel, JR East, Kyocera and several banks, formed in September 2007, gained official approval from the ministry for the 2.5GHz spectrum.

The chips and dongles are supplied via Beceem Communications. Two vendors, one American and the other Japanese, said they plan to deploy a citywide WiMAX wireless broadband network in Tokyo. U.S. vendor Airspan and Japanese communications operator Yozan said they’ll start trials for the network in the second quarter of this year.

UQ Communications expects to attract 300,000 subscribers to its WiMAX service by the end of the 2009 and expects to attract several million subscribers in the coming years with coverage of more than 90% of the Japanese population by 2012.

1．Service Brand
A high-speed mobile Internet service will be provided under the brand UQ WiMAX, using global-standard Mobile WiMAX technology*.
*This communications system uses IEEE802.16e technology, which has been approved by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) as a standard specification for high-speed IP wireless communications.

2．Rates
To ensure that customers can use high-speed mobile data communications with peace of mind, the service will be provided entirely for a flat rate.

Menu (basic rate)
＜Flat-rate menu＞ UQ Flat	4,480 yen/month (inc. tax)

　　　(Note) A separate sign-up fee of 2,835 yen (inc. tax) is required.

3．Service Area
When the service starts, it will (partially) cover the following areas.

Service areas

Tokyo (23 wards), Yokohama, Kawasaki

By the end of June 2009, the service area will be extended to include Nagoya and Osaka as well.
Service area extensions will be announced in due course on the UQ Communications Web site.
When the service starts, antennas will also be installed in 44 railway stations in the metropolitan area, on the Yamanote Line and other lines operated by East Japan Railway Co., Ltd.

4．Trial Period
During the "Trial Period" for UQ WiMAX service, from February 26 to June 30, 2009, both the basic rate and sign-up fee will be waived.
From July 1, 2009, all customers, including those utilizing the Trial Period, will be billed at the rate shown in Section 2 above.
* Customers continuing to use UQ WiMAX service from July 1, 2009, following the Trial Period, will be subject to the basic rate. New subscribers will be subject to the basic rate and sign-up fee.

MOTOROLA NEW WIMAX CPES

MOTOROLA USBw 100 WiMAX USB ADAPTOR

Indoor wireless propagation can be particularly challenging, but Motorola’s wi4 WiMAX USB adaptor is designed to perform, offering reliable, high-speed data services to WiMAX subscribers.
Radio Performance: Transmit: 200 mW maximum; highly sensitive receiver (>5dB better than WiMAX forum specifications), RX diversity, convolution turbo coding (CTC), omni-directional antennas, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)
Frequency Band: USBw23100 (2300 - 2400 MHz), USBw25100 (2496 - 2690 MHz)
USBw35100 (3400 - 3600 MHz)
Certification: WiMAX Forum Wave 2 compliant,
5 MHz and 10 MHz channels for 2.3 GHz,
5 MHz and 10 MHz channels for 2.5 GHz
5 MHz, 7 MHz and 10MHz channels for 3.5 GHz
Quality of Service Classes: BE (Best Effort), UGS (Unsolicited Grant Service), RTPS (Real Time Polling Service), NRTPS (Non Real Time Polling Service), ERTPS (Extended Real Time Polling Service)
Security: Device authentication based on X.509 digital certification,
authentication methods according to IEEE 802.16e, EAP-TLS and EAP-TTLS
AES (128-bit CCM) data encryption and authentication

Motorola wi4 WiMAX CPEi 100

From its exceptional ease of use to its sleek styling,
the Motorola wi4 WiMAX CPEi 100 Desktop CPE
offers a 2.5 GHz band WiMAX solution tailored to
appeal to your subscribers.
Radio Performance: 500 mW output power, Highly sensitive receiver, Integral directional antenna, Convolution Turbo Coding (CTC), Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ)
Frequency Band (MHz): 2496 - 2690MHZ
Certification: WiMAX Forum Certification Wave 1, 5 MHz and 10 MHz Channel for 2.5 GHz
Quality of Service Classes: BE (Best Effort), UGS (Unsolicited Grant Service), RTPS (Real Time Polling Service), NRTPS (Non Real Time Polling Service), ERTPS (Extended Real Time Polling Service)
Security: Device authentication based on X.509 digital certification Authentication methods according to IEEE 802.16e, EAP-TLS and also EAP-TTLS AES (128-bit CCM) Data Encryption and Authentication
RF Performance: Sensitivity: >5dB better than WiMAX Forum Specifications, Antenna Gain: >13dBi, TX power out: +27dBm (0.5 Watts), Noise Figure: 5 dB

Motorola CPEi 600 Series

Motorola’s CPEi 600 Series Customer Premises Equipment for WiMAX makes VoIP even more attractive, with integrated ATA for plug-and-play access.\
Radio Performance: 500 mW output power, Highly sensitive receiver, Retractable, high gain, omni-directional antennas, Orientation independent desktop unit, Two branch Maximum Ratio Combining Diversity, Convolution Turbo Coding (CTC), Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ)
Frequency: 7 MHz Channel for 3.5 GHz
Quality of Service Classes: BE (Best Effort), UGS (Unsolicited Grant Service), RTPS (Real Time Polling Service), NRTPS (Non Real Time Polling Service), ERTPS (Extended Real Time Polling Service)
Security: Device authentication based on X.509 digital certification, Authentication methods according to IEEE 802.16e, EAP-TLS and, also EAP-TTLS, AES (128-bit CCM) Data Encryption and Authentication Firewall
RF Performance: Sensitivity: >5dB better than WiMAX Forum Specifications, Antenna Gain: 7dBi, TX power out: +27dBm (0.5 Watts), Noise Figure: 5 dB

Motorola CPEi 750 Series

Motorola’s wi4 WiMAX CPEi 750 offers you another Wave 2 ready device option with voice and data features.
Radio Performance: Scaleable OFDMA employing Time-Division Duplex (TDD) mechanism; Diversity Combining: Maximum-Ratio Combining (MRC); Beamforming support; MIMO Matrix A and B; Convolutional Turbo Coding (CTC); Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)
Certification & Channel & Modulation Scheme Support: WiMAX Forum Certification Wave 2; 5MHz, 7MHz & 10MHz Channel Bandwidths; QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, both up-link and downlink
Indoor Coverage: Up to 2 kilometers range; Exceptional RF performance
Quality of Service Classes: BE (Best Effort); UGS (Unsolicited Grant Service); RTPS (Real Time Polling Service); NRTPS (Non Real Time Polling Service); ERTPS (Extended Real Time Polling Service)
Throughput: >5Mbps Down- Link> 2 Mbps Up-Link
Security: Device authentication based on X.509 digital certification; Authentication methods according to IEEE 802.16e, EAP-TLS and also EAP-TTLS; AES (128-bit CCM) Data Encryption and Authentication Firewall
RF Performance: Sensitivity: > 5dB better than WiMAX Forum Specifications across all modulation schemes; Antenna Gain: 7dBi; TX power out: 26dBm; EIRP: 33dBm;
Noise Figure: 5 dB

WIMAX PRICE IN PAKISTAN

TMCnet says a recent survey found Pakistani broadband users enjoy inexpensive broadband compared to other parts of the world. Pakistans ISPs are offering a 1 MB link for (USD) $15/mo.

In 2004, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) introduced two types of licence for ISPs – regional and nationwide, and also exempted them from Central Excise Duty. Since liberalisation, over the past four years, the Pakistani telecom sector has attracted more than USD 5.6 billion in foreign investments. During 2007/08, the Pakistani telecoms sector alone received USD 1.44 million in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – about 30 per cent of the country’s total foreign direct investment.