FierceBroadbandWireless

Hybrid SONs offer bottom-line results for 3G as well as LTE

Tammy Parker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:19:15 -0500

Deploying hybrid self-organizing networks (SONs) can slash service provider capex and opex by at least 25 percent and, in the case of a large U.S. mobile operator, could save more than $3 billion over three years, according to a joint study released by vendor Aircom International and consultancy Analysys Mason.

The study also revealed that savings for a communications service provider (CSP) from the use of hybrid SONs can lead to EBITDA that is 5 percent larger than if SON features were not implemented.

Hybrid SONs combine the features of distributed SONs, in which SON algorithms are deployed locally in the base station/controller, and centralized SONs, in which algorithms are deployed above the network infrastructure. A hybrid SON is generally located in the operations and maintenance center (OMC) or a server sitting northbound of the OMC. "In a hybrid architecture, the manufacturer deploys distributed algorithms at the base stations and provides a set of open interfaces to allow the CSP to use a control algorithm that operates on a wider geographic area on a slower time scale," according to the study.

The savings uncovered by the study result from a number of hybrid SON benefits. For example, engineers might spend 50 percent of their time optimizing neighbor cell site relations, but if that chore is automated, the engineers can instead focus on larger problems that absolutely require human intervention, Steve Bowker, Aircom CTO, told FierceBroadbandWireless.

Minimizing the number of costly site visits is also an advantage. "If you put a remote electrical tilt on the antennas, there's obviously a capital outlay to do that, but once it's fitted, it reduces significantly the visits to the site," Bowker said.

Aircom and Analysys Mason were surprised to find that hybrid SONs could dramatically reduce energy costs. "Powering down certain aspects of a base station or taking them down to a standby state, that saves a significant amount of energy and prolongs the life of the equipment as well," Bowker said.

SONs can also help reduce churn by improving coverage and cutting the number of dropped calls, though Bowker said the study did not heavily weight that benefit because operators tend to be skeptical when churn improvements are touted.

The study, which did not include the impact of small cells such as picos and femtos on the considered scenarios, also revealed that hybrid SONs benefit WCDMA networks even more than LTE networks. The primary reason is that adding SON architecture to an existing 3G infrastructure will give an operator extra capacity, enabling it to defer upgrades or roll them out incrementally.

Mark Mortensen, principal analyst with Analysys Mason, said hybrid SONs also deliver significantly higher energy savings to WCDMA networks as opposed to LTE networks because 3G equipment tends to be more energy-inefficient by nature.

Despite the benefits promised by SON architecture, there can be significant drawbacks for an operator that is not technically up to the challenge of overseeing the technology. Bowker noted that some people suggest SON should stand for "self-oscillating networks" because they can get out of control if not closely managed.

Mortensen cautioned that issues could arise in the future when SONs automatically take actions based on certain policies, which may conflict with QoS and traffic management policies. "You end up with multiple systems here that are non-procedurally programmed," making network events difficult to predict, he said.

Operators will likely need to conduct considerable simulation work to ensure their SON deployments do not cause unintended consequences.

The second coming of WiMAX: WiMAX 2's future prospects riding on vertical market adoption

Tammy Parker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:21:36 -0500

Utilities, smart cities and airports hold the key to the future for WiMAX 2, as the technology's supporters strive to position it as a mobile broadband alternative for vertical industries and other niche markets. Backers also contend that high-profile operators may yet embrace WiMAX 2, prompting even wider adoption. Clearly the pressure is on WiMAX 2 to gain traction and prevent WiMAX from becoming a dead-end technology. Special Report

In-Stat: Market for in-flight Wi-Fi primed for takeoff

Tammy Parker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:12:16 -0500

In-Stat is forecasting that in-flight Wi-Fi broadband deployments will surpass 6,100 airplanes worldwide in 2015, up from 1,835 planes in 2011. The consultancy noted that take-up rates for in-flight Wi-Fi have increased significantly, growing to an average of 7 percent in 2011 from 4 percent in 2010.

The market is still nascent and is not proving profitable for the airlines. Nonetheless, increased adoption will drive in-flight Wi-Fi service revenues for broadband providers above $1.5 billion in 2015, said In-Stat, noting that new revenue opportunities will be available via additional video and voice services for passengers as well as operational services.

According to Amy Cravens, In-Stat senior analyst, "With more people carrying Wi-Fi-enabled devices, the potential addressable market has increased multi-fold. Additionally, the variety of Wi-Fi-enabled devices has also changed considerably, which will significantly alter the usage of in-flight broadband. More passengers are boarding planes with Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones and tablets, as well as laptops, which are able to utilize the service."

The market for in-flight broadband is attracting considerable attention. Qualcomm recently proposed creation of a nationwide wireless network in the 14 GHz to 14.5 GHz band that could support data connections up to 300 Gbps. The company's EV-DO technology forms the terrestrial component of the Gogo (formerly Aircell) in-flight Internet service, which is installed in 1,200 commercial aircraft.

For more:
- see this ComputerWorld article

Stoke's gateway helps operators control Wi-Fi offloading

Tammy Parker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:35 -0500

As operators increasingly embrace Wi-Fi offloading to address mobile network congestion and reduce capital expenditures, vendors are hustling to help them commercialize carrier-grade Wi-Fi services. The latest offering comes from Stoke, which is preparing to announce a Wi-Fi Exchange gateway designed to let operators automatically authenticate Wi-Fi subscribers and securely link them to their services network.

Stoke's gateway, deployed between the Wi-Fi network and mobile network core, requires no software installation or hardware changes on mobile devices. The Wi-Fi Exchange puts all traffic routing under control of the service provider, providing insight into Wi-Fi subscriber traffic so the service provider can optimize its customers' mobile broadband experience.

"Unlike consumer or ad hoc Wi-Fi offload that offers only congestion relief, commercial offload gives subscribers access to all the services, security and standards they receive over cellular networks, effectively extending the operator's services delivery and revenue- generating capabilities to Wi-Fi," according to Stoke.

The Wi-Fi Exchange relies upon Stoke's Clientless Interworking capability, which leverages 3GPP Wireless LAN Interworking specifications. The company says it is working with technology partners to create an ecosystem supporting its approach.

Stoke is one of numerous vendors introducing platforms that essentially make Wi-Fi an element of the mobile network by providing seamless authentication and security, thus enabling operators to provision subscriber access and service offerings across multiple broadband wireless networks. Such offerings are expected to generate considerable buzz at the Mobile World Congress 2012, which will be held later this month in Barcelona.

These types of solutions are needed because although data offloading via Wi-Fi helps operators solve mobile network congestion and capacity problems, the practice is a double-edged sword in that it also encourages mobile customers to avoid using cellular networks for data delivery, cutting into operator revenues. "With the expanding availability of Wi-Fi, mobile users are increasingly choosing Wi-Fi over cellular, distancing them from the mobile operator. Operators' current strategies leveraging unmanaged Wi-Fi offload are reinforcing this effect, which represents a major threat to the business model," said Dave Williams, CTO at Stoke.

For more:
- see this Stoke web page

Meet the new FierceBroadbandWireless editor

Sue Marek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:43:56 -0500

I'm excited to announce the newest member of the Fierce editorial team, Tammy Parker.

Parker is a long-time telecom industry analyst and journalist and she will be the editor of FierceBroadbandWireless, covering all the latest developments in LTE, LTE Advanced, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, network convergence and more.

Parker is, of course, joining FierceBroadbandWireless at a particularly critical time as we are just a few weeks away from the 2012 Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain, where many companies will be talking about mobile broadband and introducing the latest equipment to help operators manage their broadband data growth. Parker will be attending the show, along with rest of our team.

Many of you may know Parker from her stint as a principal analyst and editor at Informa Telecoms & Media. She also held top editorial positions at RCR Wireless News and Wireless Week. In the mid-1990s, she published her own newsletter, Inside Wireless.

Parker is based in the Boulder area. You can find her on LinkedIn, and she can be reached at tparker@fiercemarkets.com.--Sue

Will WiMAX 2 revitalize the WiMAX industry?

Peggy Albright — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:52:07 -0500

The WiMAX industry has worked hard to develop a vision and market strategy for WiMAX 2. But since most WiMAX service providers have abandoned the technology in favor of LTE for their next-generation mobile broadband deployments, the WiMAX industry has repositioned WiMAX 2 for vertical applications and other niche markets. The strategy offers some hope for WiMAX 2--but it also has drawbacks, which is not good when business options are limited.

"Four years ago WiMAX had a wish and a dream, but that's not what happened," said Mohammad Shakouri, interim chair of the WiMAX Forum. The organization is now promoting WiMAX solutions as complementary to LTE rather than competitive with it.

The WiMAX industry developed WiMAX 2, based on the IEEE 802.16m standard, to improve mobile WiMAX network capacity and deliver faster data rates to customers. On paper and in field trials, WiMAX 2 was successful, and in January, the International Telecommunications Union formally approved WiMAX 2 as a next-generation IMT-Advanced standard along with LTE Advanced technology. The WiMAX Forum is now preparing a WiMAX 2 certification program so that vendors can begin introducing certified equipment to the marketplace; the program should launch by July.

The accomplishments may not be enough to fully revitalize WiMAX 2, however. With the exodus of its operator partners, most WiMAX vendors have also left the industry. Samsung is considered the main supplier for WiMAX 2.

"I find it very difficult to believe that this will revolutionize WiMAX's fortunes," said Keith Mallinson, founder of WiseHarbor. "All the major players have made their exit plays."

Operator support is lacking
Nevertheless, WiMAX does appear to have some staying power--at least for now. During 2011, Shakouri said, the WiMAX industry grew 15 percent from equipment sold for existing networks. But the industry needs to find traction with WiMAX 2 to prevent WiMAX from becoming an end-of-life technology, according to Phil Marshall, chief research officer at Tolaga Research.

"The WiMAX community has an incentive to try to promote WiMAX 2 and identify markets where they can get momentum, because if you don't do that you're throwing in the towel," he said.

The WiMAX Forum still believes some high-profile operators will adopt WiMAX 2, and it hopes that successful implementations will attract more operators. The main company to watch is UQ Communications in Japan, a subsidiary of KDDI, which trialed WiMAX 2 last year. UQ's investment is important, Infonetics Research noted in September, because it shows there is an alternative to LTE. It is also important to the WiMAX Forum because it will showcase UQ's thriving use of WiMAX for MVNO and other wholesale services.

Another expected operator is YTL Communications in Malaysia. YTL was awarded spectrum in December that it said it will use to support its WiMAX 2 roll out. Max Telecom in Bulgaria is also interested in WiMAX 2.

But are these deployments guaranteed? According to Marshall, UQ is seeking a regulatory easement to allow it to use LTE technology in its spectrum, which is currently allocated specifically for WiMAX.

"In the interim, they have an interest in promoting the evolution of WiMAX because that's all they can work with at the moment," he said.

And Wing K. Lee, YTL's CEO, told the Wall Street Journal in September that YTL "could switch to LTE quickly if that standard becomes most widely adopted."

Vertical markets are key
Vertical markets are vital to WiMAX 2, and the forum is working hard to sell the technology to utilities, smart cities and airports.

WiMAX has made some headway with utilities, and these deployments have helped drive WiMAX sales in 2011, according to Infonetics.

Smart cities are another emerging market. The WiMAX Forum touts previous municipal deployments in Taiwan and a significant new win in Houston, Texas, which is deploying a city-wide 802.16e mobile WiMAX network. But cellular operators are also targeting these types of opportunities.

WiMAX does have exclusivity in an aviation segment that will use mobile WiMAX as the basis for a forthcoming airport surface communications system called AeroMACS. This win showcases WiMAX's suitability for use in rigorous, demanding industries. It is a finite market, however. According to the WiMAX Forum, AeroMaCS represents a total potential market of 20,000 - 36,000 base stations, 375,000 ground vehicles and 13,000 airplanes. The system is also specific to 802.16e.

The vertical market strategy for WiMAX 2 may in fact be undercut by 802.16e, which will be suitable for many verticals and even preferred, at least initially, because devices based on the existing technology will be cheaper than early WiMAX 2 products. Vertical markets may also decide that WiMAX 2 is "not as compelling because the ecosystem will be more limited," said Monica Paolini, founder and president of Senza Fili Consulting (and a Fierce contributor).

Even if operators and others want to use WiMAX 2, many will need new spectrum to offer the technology. Older mobile WiMAX networks can operate in channels as narrow as 5 MHz, but WiMAX 2 requires a 10 MHz channel. Operators will want to deploy it in 20 or 40 MHz channels as customer demands for high-bandwidth applications and faster data rates increase.

"The challenge for the industry is to identify these broadband channels that are affordable," Shakouri said.

AT&T data throttling prompts outcry

Tammy Parker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:01:24 -0500

AT&T (NYSE: T) is not winning friends with its efforts to throttle service to alleged data hogs that are grandfathered in on its unlimited plans.

Several bloggers have reported AT&T is sending high data-usage alerts to what it claims are the top 5 percent of wireless data users in any given region and then throttling those users' data speeds. Blogger John Cozen detailed several days of communications with AT&T customer service representatives in which he complained that his service was throttled after he consumed only 2.1 GB of data in one month on his unlimited-service plan.

According to a message sent by an AT&T representative in response to Cozen's initial complaint, the mobile operator garrotes speeds in order to reduce excessive use on its unlimited data plans, though it does not throttle data speeds for the 15 million smartphone customers on tiered data plans. In mid-January, AT&T unveiled new tiered data price plans, offering 300 MB of data for $20, 3 GB for $30 and 5 GB for $50.

A different AT&T rep subsequently told Cozen that data speeds are only throttled when a customer uses "an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period." Yet other AT&T customers who, like Cozen, are on older unlimited service plans have recently complained of similar throttling experiences, though they also did not consume seemingly exorbitant amounts of data.

Mobile operators have begun favoring tiered pricing schemes rather than all-you-can-eat data plans and are increasingly throttling service to users on existing unlimited plans. Even Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) prepaid brand Virgin Mobile recently announced it would begin smartphone data throttling.

For more:
- see this Network World article
- read this John Cozen post
- see this iMore post

Operators play Cupid with free phones, cheap data

Tammy Parker — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:38:51 -0500

Forget the roses and candy: T-Mobile and Verizon are turning on the Valentine's Day charm with special phone and data service promotions aimed at technology lovers.

On Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, T-Mobile retail stores will offer any of the operator's phones for free to buyers signing up for a qualifying two-year contract. Customers can select from T-Mobile's portfolio of 30 devices, no phones excluded, though the phones will only be available while supplies last. Even the T-Mobile Springboard 4G tablet will be offered for free with a contract. The Android-based tablet's suggested retail price is $429.99, though the operator has recently been selling it for $249.99 after an instant discount and rebate.

Existing T-Mobile customers who have been with the operator for less than 18 months cannot get in on the pre-Valentine's Day specials, but they are being offered the chance to migrate to a less pricey monthly Value Plan. T-Mobile will charge migration fees based on the time remaining on a customer's current contract, with customers who have had a contract for seven months or less needing to pay $200 to shift to a Value Plan. Savings can add up over time, however, as a Value Plan with unlimited data, talk and text costs only $59.99 per month vs. a comparable Classic Plan, which costs $79.99 per month.

T-Mobile has been working to keep its data offerings competitive both on price and performance. Its HSPA+ 42 network covers 184 million POPs in 175 markets, while its HSPA+ 21 network serves 217 markets with 200 million POPs. The company is pondering future deployments of HSPA+ 84 or possibly even LTE.

Meanwhile, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is reintroducing its double-data promotion on Feb. 10. The limited-time deal, which was offered through the 2011 end-of-year holiday shopping season, increases the caps on Verizon LTE customers' data plans at no additional charge. For example, a new Verizon LTE subscriber will get 4 GB of data - rather than 2 GB - for $30 per month. The promotion is only available for new customers who buy a Verizon LTE smartphone or existing customers who upgrade from a non-LTE handset to an LTE smartphone.

Verizon is working to shift as many customers to its LTE network as possible and says all of the smartphones it sells going forward will include LTE support.

For more:
- see this PC Magazine post
- read this T-Mobile press release
- check this Los Angeles Times story

Otelco picks Adtran for backhaul plan

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:36:43 -0500

Like many telcos, rural service provider Otelco Mid-Missouri sees a growing market opportunity for providing mobile backhaul capacity. To that end, the company has deployed Adtran's Optical Networking Edge (ONE) offering to leverage the Adtran Total Access 5000 network infrastructure the carrier previously installed.

Otelco said it wants to take advantage of that burgeoning backhaul opportunity presented by 3G and 4G mobile services, but wants to make sure it can maintain service quality across its entire network landscape for all users. That is the struggle that any network operator trying to suddenly introduce a unpredictable loads of mobile traffic is going to face.

Adtran can help in that regard with a single simplified platform because the vendor announced late last year that it was combining its ONE platform with is Advanced Operational Environment (AOE). The AOE includes ServiceMonitor, a capability which allow Otelco to use Web-based service level agreement monitoring and cell-optimized wavelength service capabilities to ensure appropriate separation of distinct traffic types.

For more:
- see this Computer Business Review article

Ex-FCC honcho Hundt slams House spectrum bill

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:30:48 -0500

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt last week voiced strong opposition of spectrum legislation circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives. Network World has an insightful interview Hundt that delves further into his position. He clearly outlines his reasons for opposing the legislation, discusses why a Senate bill might do a better job of addressing the situation and-we're pretty sure on this one-indirectly claims responsibility for inventing Wi-Fi.

One of Hundt's biggest problems with the House, not surprisingly, is that it strips the FCC of a lot of power to manage bidder eligibility on what might be called an arbitrary basis. Hundt says that is one of the most important facets of managing the spectrum auction process. He should know, having been at the FCC during the PCS C Block spectrum auctions in the 1990s, auctions the later came under fire when some of the bidders were unable to meet the financial requirements to be awarded the spectrum they had successfully bid for, leaving valuable spectrum locked up in some cases in bankruptcy litigation.

Hundt also says the House bill leaves it open for a single company to dominate spectrum auctions by not restricting ability to buy up all the licenses available, which Hundt called anti-competitive.

The former FCC Chairman described the House spectrum bill as the worst telecom bill he has ever seen. Some observers that remember the PCS C Block auction might say that it was the worst auction experience they have ever had. It is not really clear whether Hundt criticized the bill because he learned a lot from what went wrong with the auctions he oversaw, or because he has conveniently forgotten that the FCC has not been such a perfect auction host in the past. Though, Hundt is clear and correct for blaming Congress for delaying the availability of much-needed (according to most in the industry) spectrum.

Either way, it appears that Hundt believes the FCC can do very little wrong, while Congress, in attempting to bring reform to spectrum auctions, can do very little right.

For more:
- check out this Network World interview

HTC fixes Wi-Fi security issue in EVO 3D

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:31:13 -0500

Wi-Fi has been making a ton of progress lately as a mobile broadband alternative, though for at least the second time in recent months a Wi-Fi-related security vulnerability has come to light.

Mobile phone maker HTC admitted late last week that the HTC EVO 3D Android phone had a security vulnerability that could allow its Wi-Fi security information to be stolen by a hack attack. The company quickly issued an over-the-air update to address the problem. It also will have a manual update ready by next week for other HTC phones that can't accept the OTA solution.

The problem was actually discovered in September of last year, according to the site Technbloom, but HTC and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) worked with the security researchers who discovered the issue to develop a fix for it before that publicly announced the potential weakness.

Without the fix, a malicious application with "ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" could gain permission to access to the Wi-Fi passwords of the networks to which the HTC EVO 3D was connected. HTC also claimed that a bug taking advantage of the problem could not have done much worse than just steal Wi-Fi passwords.

News of the HTC vulnerability and fix comes less than two months after a security researcher discovered a key vulnerability in the Wi-Fi Protected Set-up mode for access points that allowed security PINs to be cracked more easily than previously thought.

These security issues are not related, but they do come at a time when Wi-Fi is experiencing something of a resurgence on the potential for Wi-Fi off-load scenarios, as well as the very robust 802.11ac standard under development.

For more:
- see this Technobloom post

NetAmerica set to use Ericsson 4G LTE gateway

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:57:35 -0500

Following on a partnership announced last year, the NetAmerica Alliance of rural service providers teaming up to build out 4G coverage has chosen to deploy Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERIC) 4G LTE mobile broadband router. The alliance's network will be the first in the U.S. to use the gateway device, which will be branded as the UniPort Home Gateway by NetAmerica.

NetAmerica first struck an equipment deal with Ericsson almost a year ago, at that point involving packet core solutions and other gear, including a mention of future customer premises equipment. Last fall, NetAmerica rolled out a pilot network that had customers using PC dongles to for network access, with the future promise of premises gear-a promise set to be kept with the UniPort.

The UniPort router can be used in homes or businesses, and has external antennas that improve coverage in rural environments. It offers 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet and RJ-11 telephone interfaces to the customer premise. The gateway device has a DHCP server, supports DHCP relay, a DNS server, built in firewall, security, encryption, web-based management, centralized monitoring, IP routing and supports VoIP for voice services.

NetAmerica is planning to use the UniPort with its IMS SuperCenter to offer voice services both to conventional telephones (connected to its RJ-11 port) and to IP phones (up to 4) connected via Wi-Fi or via an RJ-45 port. It's nice to see rural service providers teaming up and taking an open-minded approach to mobile broadband where some other larger carrier might be more hesitant.

For more:
- see this press release

Cablevision patent suggests mobile-over-Wi-Fi service

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:50:28 -0500

Our sister publication FierceCable tracked down a patent filed by Cablevision Systems that suggests the New York cable TV and broadband firm may pursue a Wi-Fi-based mobile phone service. If it happens, it could be a fairly groundbreaking move, proof that a major telecom service provider doesn't actually need mobile spectrum or mobile resale as primary methods of offering mobile services.

Despite the intrigue, however, such a move shouldn't be all that surprising. Cable TV companies in general have been very aggressive with Wi-Fi in the last couple of years, arguably led by Cablevision Systems, which was able to slow competitive losses to Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) in recent years by offering free Wi-Fi to its New York subscribers.

Also, last summer, there were reports that Cablevision was thinking about offering a hybrid Wi-Fi/mobile service with the help of T-Mobile USA. What the patent appears to portray is a mobile service that would use Wi-Fi as a primary network, with a roaming hand-off to third party mobile network where Wi-Fi coverage isn't available--an ironic twist on how mobile networks and devices are evolving to take advantage of Wi-Fi where mobile broadband can't cut the mustard or when users are pushing the limits of data caps.

If Cablevision pursues and is successful with such a service, it may dull the urgency of the growing cries about spectrum shortages, and create an unexpected new mobile model for cable TV companies that have been flailing around when it comes to mobile (assuming they don't want to work with Verizon as badly as Cablevision probably doesn't want to).

For more:
- read this FierceCable report

Google looking to test Wi-Fi gateway

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:47:35 -0500

Wireless consultant Steve Crowley late last week discovered an application Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) filed with the Federal Communications Commission asking for approval for a trial of a Wi-Fi-enabled residential gateway. The request has many in the industry believing that Google is looking to test a product with 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology in it, the one-gigabit-plus proposed standard being a good match for its 1 Gbps fiber network projects in Kansas City and Palo Alto.

If that's the case, it would add a new wrinkle to the broadband model that Google plans to offer, one that would make telcos look bad for not doing enough with broadband, just as their fiber build-out proposes to do. While Google has long been talking about plugging fiber into homes it has not been completely clear the variety of things it might do on the other side of that connection with home network coverage and applications

The 802.11ac standard, however, is not due for approval until late in the year, and there may not be many 802.11ac products available for testing yet--not that Google will have trouble getting its hands on some prototypes to trial.

Another possibility here is that Google could test and start out with 802.11n products, though as GigaOM points out, 802.11n gear would create a bandwidth bottleneck for Google's fat pipe.

For more:
- see this GigaOM post

Taiwan still backing WiMAX against LTE

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:47:25 -0500

Just last month, Taiwan reported a massive jump in the number of WiMAX subscribers in the country, almost 85 percent growth for the six months ending November 2011. However, the world is changing fast to LTE, and the government of Taiwan is now getting attention for continuing to endorse and support WiMAX.

The government said it would drive an increase in development of WiMAX applications and would help the country's six WiMAX operators to expand their networks. As a rule, the government claims to be technology-neutral in its awarding of 4G licenses, and plans to remain that way as new licenses become available next year, according to local reports from Taiwan.

Taiwan was caught at the center of technology controversy last year, when Intel began to wind down its support for WiMAX, but the government insisted it would push ahead with ambitious plans for local WiMAX-related deployment and manufacturing. It does not appear as though the government is staunchly supporting WiMAX and turning completely away from LTE, but the attention Taiwan is getting for backing WiMAX may reflect just how quickly LTE is becoming dominant.

For more:
- read this Tech Eye story