- Indonesia's MoCI (Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology) said that it will reveal the winners of WiMAX
operating licenses in July 2009, The Jakarta Post reported on May 19, 2009.
Currently the MoCI is in talk with the Finance Ministry on establishing the fee
policy in Indonesia's 15 zones. It is expected that the fee policy will differ
in different zones, and the zones projected to have WiMAX services include three
zones in Sumatra, four zones in Java, two zones in Kalimantan, and one zone
each for Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Maluku, Sulawesi, and Riau Island. According
to the plan envisaged by MoCI, two 2.3GHz WiMAX operating licenses will be
issued in each zone, and cross-zone operation is possible for a single
operator. Around 73 telecoms have participated in the Indonesian tender for
WiMAX operating licenses, according to The Jakarta Post report.
- Korea's SK Telecom has furthered its
partnership with UAE (United Arab Emirates)-based telecom KBIC (Kulacom
Broadband Investment Company) on KBIC's WiMAX network in Jordan and development
of WiMAX in other emerging markets, including the Middle East and Eastern
Europe, according to a press release by SK Telecom. In addition to their
existing partnership agreement, SK Telecom and KBIC signed a US$4.38 million
consulting agreement and a US$2.18 million LOI (Letter of Intent) to strengthen
their collaboration. KBIC recently launched a WiMAX network at the 3.6GHz
frequency band in Amman, Jordan, leveraging SK Telecom's Wibro technology, the
Korean version of WiMAX. Aside from the SK Telecom-KBIC deal, SK Telesys, a
Korean Wibro equipment provider, also clinched an equipment supply contract
valued at US$7 million.
- Chinese telecommunications solution provider
Huawei Technologies announced that it has been selected by Italian BWA
(Broadband Wireless Access) service provider Retelit to deploy its mobile WiMAX
infrastructure, Telecom Tiger reported on May 20, 2009. Via its Milan-based
subsidiary E-via, Retelit obtained 3.5GHz BWA licenses in central and northern
Italy. Huawei is expected to deliver an end-to-end 802.16e solution, including MIMO
(Multiple Input Multiple Output)-enabled base stations, ASN (Access Service
Network) gateways, hybrid TDM/IP (Time Division Multiplexing / Internet
Protocol) microwave equipment, and network management systems, for Retelit's
WiMAX project.