3GSM: Talking About WiMax

I find it a bit strange that at this years congress there’s lots of talk and demos on WiMAX. I wonder if the organizers are very happy about this as the exhibition is focused on GSM and UMTS. WiMAX on the other hand, once ready for the market, is direct competition for established UMTS operators. Most infrastructure vendors like Motorola, Lucent and Nokia are showing some kit and there is even a dedicated WiMAX booth in hall 1. From the demos I think it’s quite clear that 802.16e hardware is still in it’s early phases. Sprint is exhibiting on the WiMAX booth and, just like Intel, they are showing Samsung WiBro handsets and PCMCIA cards. While WiBro is a close cousin of WiMax 802.16e, it’s not the ‘real’ thing. Other companies showing their kit on the WiMax booth are Motorola, Samsung and Nokia. However, it’s mostly chartware for now.