Over recent years, the proliferation of internet applications, bandwidth intensive and QoS sensitive applications such as VoIP and Video, resulted in increasing demand for higher throughput provisioning. As the broadband revolution continues, the ever increasing competition in the broadband service market is forcing broadband service providers to plan their networks for economy delivery of services while guaranteeing high level of QoS and user experience.
The economics of the wireless systems is the major consideration when choosing the technology, the deployment strategy and the modes of operation. It determines the investment required to deploy a network, the expense required to operate it and the operator’s profit margin. In the context of WiMAX technology, a careful evaluation of the economics of the network is even more crucial. Since WiMAX technology was born into a tough world where competing alternatives such as ADSL, fiber and high speed cellular technologies already exist, WiMAX needs to have a significant advantage over these incumbent technologies in order to justify the initial deployment cost, the operation cost and to successfully compete over time in a reality of ARPU erosion.
WiMAX (World Interoperability for Microwave Access), based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, is expected to enable true broadband speeds over wireless networks at a cost point to enable mass market adoption. WiMAX is the only wireless standard today that has the potential to successfully compete with broadband copper based technologies in terms of throughput and overall system capacity.
WiMAX is deployed today in two main scenarios: fixed WiMAX applications in which a point-to-multipoint network is providing broadband access to homes and businesses, whereas mobile WiMAX offers the full mobility of cellular networks at true broadband speeds. Both fixed and mobile applications of WiMAX need to be engineered to deliver ubiquitous, high-throughput broadband wireless services at a low cost in order to compete with incumbent services and technologies.
Mobile WiMAX is based on OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) technology which has inherent advantages in throughput, latency, spectral efficiency, and advanced antennae support; ultimately enabling it to provide higher performance than today's wide area wireless technologies. Furthermore, next generation 4G wireless technologies (some times referred as LTE) may evolve towards OFDMA and all IP-based networks as an ideal for delivering cost-effective wireless data services.
WiMAX represents a global connectivity opportunity in highly developed mobile market segments and developing countries where this technology may help provide affordable broadband services to large areas.