Blanketing the world in broadband
Thursday, September 27, 2007
FROM the remotest villages of Vietnam to Silicon Valley offices and Chicago's convention centre, a new mobile telecommunications technology is set to take the world a lot closer to the age of the ubiquitous Internet.
WiMAX technology has long been tipped to transform the way people communicate with computers and hand-held devices. But some key developments in the run up to the WiMAX world convention that began on Tuesday in Chicago indicate that the technology is set to take off into the mainstream.
If it all works out as planned, WiMAX will allow users to tap into wireless broadband Internet services at the speed of DSL or cable. Because WiMAX has a range of 8km up to 50km, the technology has the capability of blanketing entire cities with a broadband cloud.
With base stations linked via satellite, WiMAX can also be used to link remote regions to a state-of-the-art communications systems even in places where simple telephone access had been impossible until now.
US technology giant Intel proved the feasibility of such projects earlier this month when it hooked up the remote Vietnamese village of Ta Van with a WiMAX hotspot that blanketed the village with broadband. Users in Ta Van now enjoy free internet access.
The US will be the first to enjoy the WiMax experience, which its backers call 4G to differentiate it from the 3G wireless networks currently available.
Mobile phone company Sprint has spent US$5 billion ($7.5 billion) building out WiMAX networks in some 30 US cities with combined populations of 100 million, which it expects to hook up in 2008.
The effort will be helped by Intel's new line of chips using 45-nanometre technology.
"Mobile users have an insatiable appetite for and want even more mobility, connectivity and a full internet on their smaller devices," said Intel executive David Perlmutter. "Intel will satisfy those needs and also use some of these technologies to bring an affordable computing and Internet experience to emerging communities and economies around the world."
Motorola, the world's second-largest cellphone manufacturer, is also betting on the new technology, announcing a new WiMAX chipset and calling the technology "the most cost-effective, fastest and easiest-to-deploy option in the market today, often providing an economical way to provide telecom service where previously there was none". DPA
WiMAX technology has long been tipped to transform the way people communicate with computers and hand-held devices. But some key developments in the run up to the WiMAX world convention that began on Tuesday in Chicago indicate that the technology is set to take off into the mainstream.
If it all works out as planned, WiMAX will allow users to tap into wireless broadband Internet services at the speed of DSL or cable. Because WiMAX has a range of 8km up to 50km, the technology has the capability of blanketing entire cities with a broadband cloud.
With base stations linked via satellite, WiMAX can also be used to link remote regions to a state-of-the-art communications systems even in places where simple telephone access had been impossible until now.
US technology giant Intel proved the feasibility of such projects earlier this month when it hooked up the remote Vietnamese village of Ta Van with a WiMAX hotspot that blanketed the village with broadband. Users in Ta Van now enjoy free internet access.
The US will be the first to enjoy the WiMax experience, which its backers call 4G to differentiate it from the 3G wireless networks currently available.
Mobile phone company Sprint has spent US$5 billion ($7.5 billion) building out WiMAX networks in some 30 US cities with combined populations of 100 million, which it expects to hook up in 2008.
The effort will be helped by Intel's new line of chips using 45-nanometre technology.
"Mobile users have an insatiable appetite for and want even more mobility, connectivity and a full internet on their smaller devices," said Intel executive David Perlmutter. "Intel will satisfy those needs and also use some of these technologies to bring an affordable computing and Internet experience to emerging communities and economies around the world."
Motorola, the world's second-largest cellphone manufacturer, is also betting on the new technology, announcing a new WiMAX chipset and calling the technology "the most cost-effective, fastest and easiest-to-deploy option in the market today, often providing an economical way to provide telecom service where previously there was none". DPA
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