Testing will begin later this year on demand for WiMax – in other words, super-fast 4G mobile networks – after Nortel and service provider Urban WiMax announced a ‘cross-market’ collaboration.
For mobile users, WiMax should represent a big step up from 3G, making mobile video uploads to sites like YouTube or 3’s SeeMe TV, and video downloads to handsets, that much faster. Download speeds of up to 50Mbit-per-second are theoretically possible, and even a portion of that sort of bandwidth would make for a superb mobile internet experience.
Telecoms regulator Ofcom is planning to auction WiMax bandwidth next year, with fierce bidding expected from both fixed-line and mobile operators. Urban WiMax CEO Sasha Williamson said 140 licences could be up for grabs for mobile operators to upgrade 3G/ HSDPA services.
Nortel and Urban WiMax’s ‘WiVo’ trial will connect around 100 mobile users to two or three UK base stations, at speeds of 1-2Mbit/s or even as fast as 5MBit/s. Williamson said this could help understand the user experience and identify possible demand from different market sectors.
Now that 3G/ HSDPA’s pretty firmly established, it was only a matter of time before 4G networks rolled around in the UK — South Korea has had its version of WiMax, WiBro, up and running for a couple of years. With YouTube’s mobile launch considered by some to be a bit of a damp squib (with regard to the limited conversion of its video library for mobiles), WiMax could — and should — be the catalyst for an explosion of user-generated video content services from next year.
(Via IT Week)
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