Beceem will be supplying Mobile WiMAX silicon to Samsung for use in fixed and mobile WiMax applications, reports Unstrung.
Samsung is currently the front-runner in the mobile WiMax market. Samsung 802.16e gear is used in Korea’s WiBro standard, and will be used by Sprint in their Washington DC Mobile WiMAX rollout later this year. SkyCross designed and manufactured the first internal and external antennas for WiBro and is applying its experience to similar WiMAX networks.
Beceem is among the first vendors to develop “Wave 2″ mobile WiMax chipsets, which specifies smart antennas and MIMO for better range and speed. MIMO was specified in the 802.16e standard. “The first wave of Mobile WiMAX gear that gets certified will be 2×2 MIMO,” Intel’s Knudsen said. “There is no specific plan to do more than that, but as other silicon gets developed, more sophisticated multi-antenna systems will continue to come to market and get certified.”
‘Mobile WiMAX Wave 2’ is expected to be deployed by Sprint and other operators this year. Wave 1 devices have 20M/6Mbps download/upload speeds, but Wave 2 is expected to go twice as fast; 40M/12Mbps.
According to Wireless Week, Clearwire also has licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum covering 210 million people in the United States. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff (left) says they have spectrum covering all or parts of 72 of the top 100 markets.
This year Sprint will provide Mobile WiMAX service, in Chicago and Washington D.C. Motorola WiMAX gear will be used in Chicago while Samsung Mobile WiMAX gear will be used in Washington D.C..
Samsung showed off “the world’s first mobile Wimax PDA phone” (right) at CES last month. Samsung’s SPH-M8100 phone runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 and features both CDMA celllular and 802.16e, with a 2.8″ color screen, a 2-megapixel camera, mobile television and a TV-out port.
Related DailyWireless stories include; Mobile WiMAX PlugFest, Sprint to Demo Mobile WiMAX at CES, Mobile WiMAX in Hillsboro, OR, State-wide Wireless Broadband Access, Mobile TV: Six Flavors, Grand Rapids + Clearwire, Clearwire Launches in Seattle, Clearwire’s $900M Payday, WiMAX World 2006, WiMAX Interop: Good So Far, Maravedis WiMAX Report, Intel Inside Clearwire, Moto in MobileWiMAX Chips, Sprint: It’s WiMAX! and Mobile WiMAX: It Begins.
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