Peter,
>>On what basis would regulators allow WiMAX and not allow Wi-Fi?<<
I don't want to get into trouble with Bob Frankston over this, so let me just say that my own take on each technology aside, I'll respond to you by stating what I think the EU Commissioner meant by her remarks.
I didn't read Reding's intention to mean that WiFi would be disallowed, as much as WiMAX was being held out as a platform that should be given more visibility and room to be found acceptable. If I had to further guess, it would be because WiFi is not traditionally viewed as a revenue generating form of telecoms service, per se, as much as it is an amenity, or an inexpensive solution used by municipalities to dispense with the digital divide. Of course, WiFi's value in personal-, local - and WLAN- situations, where it has actually excelled, is not even up for dispute here, but these latter venues do not constitute the kinds of public service arenas the commissioner was referring to, IMO.
WiMAX portends to be more of a competitive influence in the WAN (or more aptly, Metro) area making it more suitable for competing nose-to-nose with Cable Modem, DSL, etc., in addition to its backhaul capabilities, which WiFi can be made capable of, but for which it is not prone to be exploited by established service providers. While WiFi could be force fit into some of the latter molds, it hasn't received, from a perception point of view, the same kind of broad recognition for its potential in those areas as WiMAX has.
Have I made any sense, and do you agree? Disagree? I'm all ears.
FAC |
