Malaysia's government-backed R&D agency
MIMOS, which operates under the MOSTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation,), recently released a hybrid WiMAX and Wi-Fi solution, Malaysia's
Bernama reported on August 13. The homegrown technology platform is named WiWi.
Operating in the 2.3GHz frequency band, WiWi was designed as a last mile broadband
connectivity solution aiming to help boost Malaysia's household broadband penetration
rate to 50% by 2010 from 24% at present. The WiWi technology platform comes in
a high capacity access network architecture and is thereby expected to support
various technologies in addition to WiMAX. Technologies such as ADSL (Asymmetric
Digital Subscriber Line), Wi-Fi, and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
can all be used the backhaul and access module.
Along with the launch of WiWi technology
platform, MIMOS has inked collaboration agreements with three Malaysian WiMAX
carriers: REDtone International, Packet One Networks, and Asiaspace. It is
reported that each of the three companies would be given WiWi routers
manufactured by CEEDTec. Trials on the new platform are expected to begin by
September 2009.