WiMAX Forum Predicts 800 Million in WiMAX Range by 2010

With nearly 460 WiMAX deployments underway in 135 countries, the WiMAX Forum announced that the combined footprint of commercial WiMAX networks now cover 430 million people, or POPS, globally. These networks are on a path to nearly double to 800 million people by end of 2010.



The WiMAX Forum also met key milestones with the first Mobile WiMAX 3.5GHz products receiving the WiMAX Forum Certified seal of approval. Samsung and ZTE have received the WiMAX Forum Certified seal of approval for products for the 3.5 GHz spectrum band.


"WiMAX coverage is here now and is the catalyst in the global marketplace to deliver 4G broadband Internet access to countries that don't want to wait," said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. "These new deployment numbers reveal the mobile Internet WiMAX ecosystem has achieved strong growth and will continue to satisfy the market demand to deliver high-speed broadband services in 2009. Certified products in the 3.5 GHz band will now give more operators access to the equipment and devices needed to deliver mobile broadband services."


Samsung's 3.5GHz base station, the U-RAS Flexible, is a new addition to Samsung's WiMAX Forum Certified products in 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz bands. This base station is now being deployed for Lithuania's first WiMAX commercial service. U-RAS Flexible is separated into two parts, including the digital unit and remote radio head. The optic interface between digital unit and remote radio head minimizes cable loss. Its powerful RF output effectively covers macro network areas. It adopts Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology and is ready for Beamforming, ensuring consistent quality service for years to come.


ZTE's 9100+R9100 base stations also achieved certification. These add a new frequency band to ZTE's resume, which already includes WiMAX Forum Certified products in the 2.6 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands. ZTE B9100+R9100 are distributed base station systems developed on MicroTCA hardware platform equipped with features such as easy upgrade path, compact design, and low total cost of ownership (TCO). It supports advanced MIMO technology, which enhances the signal transmission quality of single base station. ZTE's most recent products were certified at the Taiwan WFDCL Bureau Veritas ADT.
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