... and then there were two ...
Ericsson delivers blow to unified 4G dream
7 Apr 2017
by: Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Research
Ericsson was never going to welcome WiMAX, given its potential cannibalization of the Swedish giant’s strongest market, UMTS/HSPA. It was mellowing towards the technology last year as it sought to diversify its customer base and become less dependent on cellcos, moving towards multi-network convergence and managed services for its growth. However, last month, it cancelled its WiMAX R&D projects, announcing that it will focus on bringing LTE to market as early as possible in order to satisfy operator calls for a more rapid agenda, and to ensure WiMAX cannot leap into a vacuum caused by a prolonged wait for 3.9G. Since LTE and WiMAX are similar in technology fundamentals, Ericsson could well afford to support R&D on both and create a converged, all-bases-covered approach like Motorola’s and Nortel’s. So Ericsson’s public rejection of 802.16 smacks of politics and spin, aiming to reduce operators’ confidence in WiMAX while raising their hopes of near term LTE, as well as wrong footing WiMAX enthusiasts like Motorola.
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