WiMAX Development Speeds up in Taiwan
October 26, 2007
- Taiwanese USI has been developing WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) based on 16d technology since the third quarter of 2007. According to USI, the company will ship such models to Asia and America in late 2007. USI is planning to finish test on 16e-based models and secure certification from WiMAX Forum by the first quarter of 2008.
- ITU (International Telecommunication Union) announced on October 19 that it has approved WiBro as an international standard. The approval will enable WiBro services to use the radio frequency as IMT-2000.
- Taiwan's MOEA (Ministry of Economic Affairs) has signed an MoU (Memorandum Of Understanding) with five major international telecommunications equipment vendors at 2007 WiMAX Forum held on October 22 and 23 in Taipei. These five companies are Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, NSN (Nokia-Siemens Networks), Sprint-Nextel, and Starent. Cooperation with Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, and NSN will focus on base stations and Central-Office equipment. Cooperation with Sprint-Nextel will concentrate on network technology, and that with Starent will aim at global roaming and WiMAX R&D.
- Following small-scale shipments of WiMAX CPE to Sprint Nextel in September, ZyXEL will start large-scale shipments to Sprint in December 2007. Meanwhile, ZyXEL will begin to start to provide WiMAX base stations to Sprint in 2008.
- Taiwan-based Acer, Quanta, and Accton have signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Alcatel-Lucent on October 23 to provide WiMAX equipment for Alcatel-Lucent. The three companies are expected to gain more access to other international vendors through the cooperation.