WiMax is 3G?

WiMax is 3G?

This seems to be a very interesting development. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has approved WiMax, a non-cellular telecommunications technology, as part of the union’s 3G standards.

The decision, made at the ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector’s (ITU-R) general meeting in Geneva , Switzerland, means operators with 3G spectrum in the 2.5 GHz bands globally can use WiMAX to build out a network. Although each country’s regulators ultimately decide, the ITU decision usually has a strong influence.

Individual governments will independently decide whether they want to adopt and follow the ITU decision. If and when this is applied in the Philippines by NTC, it could mean that existing telcos wanting to expand to WiMax will already be under existing 3G regulation. No more additional provisions or licenses.

The ITU’s approval likely won’t resolve the debate over which is the best technology to use in the 2.57 GHz -2.69 GHz spectrum bands. The GSM community has plans to use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in its future, with a proposed standard called Long Term Evolution (LTE). The GSM Association had opposed the inclusion of WiMAX in IMT-2000.

WiMAX, although it uses OFDMA, in its current form is a TDD (time division duplex) technology that separates signals by time slots. W-CDMA is a FDD (frequency division duplex) technology that separates signals by frequency. Engineers and companies argue over which is best.

If that happens, there may be some future for WiMax in the Philippines even if most telcos have already heavily invested in cellular 3G/HSDPA/UMTS.

Who knows, maybe Sun Cellular might follow this roadmap instead.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

8 Comments

Send Load Philippines says:

15 years ago

Hmm.!.. it is a post I’m willing to take a bullet for. Undoubtedly hits the mark. I have some minor concerns but I don’t want to begin a long post and someone could possibly flame me. Just wish to keep this blog civil and clean. Wouldn’t like any hatemail would i? lol Keep it up!
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Jammy@Globe Load Philippines says:

15 years ago

Ive been lurking over here for the longest time and eventually have the urge to comment. First of all, I wish to thank you for the wonderful posts. Second, thank you for writing Top quality posts and not just rehashed posts discovered elsewhere. Absolutely a cool web page I’d advise….well, I’ve been bookmarking this web page, that need to be enough proof of me recommending this lol.
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minor says:

17 years ago

so when? 5yrs from now?
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leo says:

17 years ago

WiMax or no WiMax, I want a cheaper connection. :)
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jhay says:

17 years ago

Very interesting, perhaps this could be a more affordable solution for the rest of us. ;)
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Mikko says:

17 years ago

This is a good news.

I hope this will be the new internet-for-everyone. Haha. Still stuck on my dialup!

3G internet is fast, I hope WiMax technology will be developed further.
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