Sprint PCS may be going out on a date with WiMAX, but it does not guarantee a wedding ring. That’s the way another technology provider, Flarion Technologies Inc. with its Flash-OFDM, approaches the carrier’s decision to join the WiMAX Forum.
Since its proposed merger with Nextel Communications hit headlines, Sprint has been trying to pick what protocol to deploy in its MMDS 2.5 GHz spectrum. Other than Flash-OFDM, IP Wireless is also pushing its UMTS-TDD technology. Industry experts describe these technologies as fourth generation.
But Sprint appears enthusiastic about WiMAX in spite of its challenges with establishing a standard.
“We support the forum’s infrastructure goals,” explained Oliver Valente, vice president, technology development at Sprint. “Standardization and certification will unlock significant opportunities for service providers and equipment makers while bringing new high-speed connectivity benefits for users.”
Flarion has raised the stakes with the announcement of what it describes as the next generation of its protocol known as Flexband. But not wanting Flarion to steal all the publicity thunder, IP Wireless was quick to point out what it perceives as Flash-OFDM’s deficiencies.
“We can’t jump to a conclusion as yet,” remarked Ozgur Aytar, senior analyst with Pyramid Research, adding that the carrier may still be weighing its options.
Another voice has tried to reinforce Valente’s remark. “Sprint’s decision to join the WiMAX Forum and to invest the company’s broadband experience and expertise in the development of WiMAX is significant,” said WiMAX Forum President Ron Resnick. “Participation by major carriers like Sprint, with extensive experience in networking technologies, is a key element to our success.”
All three technologies have witnessed greater investment in the past year in not only technology enhancement but also financial outlay.
Flarion said its new Flash-OFDM release in a single carrier 1.2 MHz band can deliver peak downlink data rates of 5.3 Mbps, 1.8 Mbps uplink and 2.5 Mbps in the network and high-speed data performance of up to 800 Kbps at the cell edge. The company asserts its speed is five times faster than CDMA2000 1x EV-DO, 10 times faster at the cell edge and at costs significantly less to deploy.
“We have introduced gigabytes into the vocabulary of wireless for the first time,” said Ronny Haraldsvick, vice president of marketing at Flarion, reiterating his company’s technology advantage in the Sprint sweepstakes. “It is presumptuous to say one is making a technology decision by joining a forum.” He added the Sprint WiMAX Forum news “did not change our day.”
Analysts thought Flarion’s profile dimmed as a cellular player with the proposed Sprint-Nextel merger. Flash-OFDM was one of the major contenders to replace Nextel’s iDEN infrastructure. The merger gives the win to CDMA, according to industry experts, and puts Flash-OFDM to the broadband arena.
Haraldsvick said Flarion is trialing its systems with such carriers as T-Mobile in Holland, Telstra in Australia and Vodafone Tokyo. Siemens AG has committed to work on it for the 450 MHz band.
The knock on Flarion’s protocol has been its proprietary nature. IP Wireless distinguishes itself from Flash-OFDM by describing UMTS-TDD as a standards-based technology. It also says it already is commercially driven with deployments in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. It also enjoys spectrum allocation with a range of devices.
WiMAX has not formed a standard, although the industry expects that to happen by the middle of the year for fixed networks. Meanwhile, there are many pre-standards products being deployed by a variety of companies including Intel Corp. Proprietary networks also are being spearheaded by Clearwire in Jacksonville, Fla., which plans to launch broadband wireless service in about 20 more markets and owns spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band in about 100 U.S. markets.
The WiMAX standards for mobility will be ready next year, according to industry experts. And it is expected to pitch battle with cable and DSL technologies, according to a new report by Frost and Sullivan. But it has to face the challenges of quality of service and Wi-Fi deployments, it said.
“This is likely to prove challenging since the 802.16 standard operates in unlicensed spectrums,” said Arjun Chokkappan, analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
