ITU set to upgrade WiMAX to 3G classification
Posted to the Web: Monday, March 19, 2007
THE International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is close to endorsing mobile WiMAX as a 3G IMT-2000 technology, which would enable it to occupy globally allocated frequency bands and complement or compete with other 3G technologies.
Mobile WiMAX has been ushered towards the wireless mainstream by ITU Working Party 8F (WP8F), which met January 17-27 in Cameroon to consider whether WiMAX should join the IMT-2000 family at the World Radio Conference (WRC-07) in October. IMT-2000 incorporates CDMA, TDMA and FDMA technologies into five currently deployed standards: WCDMA, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, EDGE and DECT.
WP8F has responsibility for the “overall radio system aspects of IMT-2000 and beyond”. It has been weighing a proposal by the IEEE and the WiMAX Forum to embrace mobile WiMAX, specifically IP-OFDMA, the basis of 802.16e technology.
The proposal says that WiMAX will complement 3G and offer operators “an additional migration path” to support wireless-broadband services, whether by providing low-cost access in rural environments or by adding capacity in metropolitan areas.
Strong push
In Cameroon, the UK, US and Australian administrations in particular pushed strongly for WiMAX’s inclusion to be approved by the end of the next WP8F meeting in Kyoto in May, for final ratification at the annual meeting on June 25.
IMT-2000 classification would qualify WiMAX for IMT-2000 spectrum allocations at WRC-07, when the 2.3-2.4GHz and 3.4-3.6GHz bands will be considered for inclusion and the 3G community will reportedly be asking for 1.7GHz of new spectrum.
Fixed WiMAX is now deployed in Europe at 3.5GHz, while the 2.3GHz and 2.5-2.6GHz bands are used for mobile WiMAX. The latter band comes under IMT-2000’s auspices and has until now been earmarked as 3G-expansion spectrum.
This apparent conflict has led some to oppose WiMAX. Kenneth Ashworth, editor of WiMAX Day and a director of the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA), notes that within WP8F there are those “that represent the 3G industry that want to keep the 2.5-2.6GHz spectrum for 3G”.
Last year the GSM Association (GSMA) attacked European Commission attempts to pursue technology neutrality in the 2.5-2.6GHz band and, in the UK, O2 and T-Mobile opposed regulator Ofcom’s plan to reopen 2.5-2.6GHz spectrum, as did vendor Siemens and the UMTS Forum.
Vodafone, however, did not protest, and Ashworth says he believes that Europe’s largest operator is “on the fence, as owners of both 3G spectrum and WiMAX spectrum”. Vodafone and other operators are canvassing regulators for permission to refarm their 3G networks to lower-frequency GSM bands, a negotiation that could free up the 3G-expansion band for WiMAX.
WiMAX awaits
In Europe, WiMAX-friendly 2.6GHz spectrum has been awarded in the Netherlands and Russia and will this year be awarded in the UK. Norway recently awarded 2.3GHz spectrum. “Many of the European regulators are waiting for the IMT-2000 issue to be resolved,” says Ashworth, who notes that “when WiMAX is classified as IMT-2000, the regulators can ask a much higher price”. He expects “a lot of activity” later in 2007.
“I think it is 99% certain it will happen,” says Robert Syputa, senior analyst at WiMAX-research consultants Maravedis. “Europe is where a lot of impact could be felt because there is a dynamic of opening up spectrum to WiMAX.” He adds that mobile operators are attracted to a technologically neutral spectrum regime.
Carlton O’Neal, vice-president of marketing at WiMAX-equipment provider Alvarion, is bullish. “We have mobile carriers saying they would love to use their spectrum for WiMAX,” he says. “One of the big guys will adopt WiMAX for competitive advantage.”
Alternative ploy
Operators may have another motive, says Dean Bubley, founder of UK consultancy Disruptive Analysis: keeping their suppliers in check.
Bubley says operators belonging to Next Generation Mobile Networks, (NGMN) a body set up to make recommendations on the development of future mobile broadband technologies, has been dropping “less-than-subtle hints” about WiMAX being a basis for future Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, otherwise known as Super 3G.
“NGMN wants to keep the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) vendors on their toes with the threat of WiMAX,” he says. “Technology-neutral spectrum or WiMAX as part of IMT could be a hedge against overenthusiastic IPR (intellectual property rights) claims in LTE.”
Consequently, Bubley thinks that WiMAX is more likely to be adopted into IMT-2000 as part of IMT-Advanced, the nascent “4G” standard that major vendors like Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson are trying to occupy with LTE and Qualcomm is targeting with FLASH-OFDM.
“OFDMA technology has become commonly accepted as the basis for the evolution of mobile technology towards 4G,” says the WiMAX Forum. “Indeed, 3GPP’s ongoing LTE project plans to incorporate OFDMA.”
IMT-2000 classification for WiMAX would mean not only easier access to spectrum, but also an increase in the value of the spectrum by as much as 10 times. In the longer term, if the Forum and its supporters win over the ITU, WiMAX-spectrum owners could become the first 4G operators.
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