WiMax joins 3G standard

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 22 Oct 2007 at 10:12

WiMax has been approved as an international standard by the UN's telecommunications group, a victory for Intel which had been championing the technology.

The decision to include WiMax in the IMT-2000 set of standards means that operators of 3G licenses can now provide WiMax services to their customers, effectively integrating the technology into 3G's future development path.

"This decision is of global importance to operators, who look to ITU to endorse technologies before they invest in new infrastructure," the WiMax Forum says in a statement.

"The decision to approve the WiMax Forum's version of IEEE Standard 802.16 as an IMT-2000 technology significantly escalates opportunities for global deployment, especially within the 2.5-2.69GHz band, to deliver mobile internet to satisfy both rural and urban market demand."

A statement from the ITU noted that the technology was the first to be added to the specifications for the third-generation family of mobile standards since it approved them a decade ago, a setback for Qualcomm which has been pushing the alternative Ultra Mobile Broadband technology.

WiMax already has the support of Lenovo and Acer which recently committed to using Intel's WiMax chips. Nokia's has also said its N-series tablets will feature WiMax.

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