Wimax has grown to the max

Robert Clark | August 17, 2010

telecomseurope.net

Just as the Wimax industry is preparing to jump to Wimax 2 alarm bells are ringing over the future of the wireless broadband technology.

The Taiwanese, who make some 80% of the world’s Wimax devices, believed Intel is giving up on the technology.

Much as Korea tacked CDMA to its mast in the late 1990s, Taiwan has been driving the Wimax bandwagon for the last three years. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has tipped cash into the sector and several vendors have invested in networks around the island to showcase the technology.

However, the Taipei Computer Association – the biggest association of hardware and software vendors – is upset that Intel has closed its Wimax program office.

Intel, which launched the technology nearly a decade ago, said in an emailed statement that because Wimax is a mature technology, with 500 networks in operation in 147 countries, the Taiwan office is no longer needed.

Yet if it is a mature technology, why does it appear to be in reverse?

Sprint Nextel, the first and so far only tier 1 operator to commit to a mobile Wimax rollout, is having second thoughts, according to the Financial Times.

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