Abstract

The focus of WiMAX World 2008 Conference & Exhibition centered on the commencement of Sprint's commercial Xohm service in Baltimore, which ushered in the new era of 4G WiMAX network. Meanwhile, Sprint has not only engaged in large-scale interoperability testing with Samsung's, Motorola's, and Nokia's equipment but also sought collaboration with WiMAX carriers worldwide on roaming services. Sprint's progress in the WiMAX sector has spurred the acceleration of the WiMAX Forum's certification process.

Under much debate and discussion, the competition between WiMAX and LTE in the 4G race has finally picked up steam. As LTE is a direct successor to the foregone mobile communications technologies, the number of carriers having announced intention to adopt LTE surpasses that planning to deploy WiMAX. As 3G Americas predicted, LTE is projected to emerge the winner as it is expected to offer seamless upgrades and satisfy consumers' demand for plenty of devices, diverse application services, and substantial coverage.

However, according to the projections of many telecommunications equipment vendors, the commercialization of LTE-related equipment will have to wait until 2010. The reason that various carriers still declare their allegiance to LTE may be that they have already made considerable investments in the 3G sector, whether it be for spectrum acquisition or equipment procurement. Consequently, these carriers will not have the means to invest in new technologies before the investments in 3G have achieved certain results.

Meanwhile, as the WiMAX Forum pointed out, actual market demand will dictate the development of 4G telecommunications. Therefore, the foremost objective of WiMAX is to meet the present market demand.

In addition, the cable TV operators have begun tapping into the mobile broadband sector. Since the consumers demand ubiquitous access to the Internet as well as multimedia entertainment services, the cable TV operators are expected to play an important role in the sector. Moreover, as fellow cable TV operators have crossed over into the mobile communications industry, other operators will be prompted to join the fray as well.

Appendix

Glossary of Terms

List of Companies