There's considerable debate, and ample skepticism about whether Mobile WiMAX will "make it" in competition against wireless telephony technology GSM/HSxPA, CDMA/1xEVDO, and soon, LTE.
I've been waiting for a company to emerge that embraced the "WiMAX Paradigm" to illustrate why (Mobile) WiMAX can not only complete against wireless telephony technologies, but eventually triumph over them.
The first such company has now emerged - Augere.
Simply, Augere is going to deploy WiMAX (unstated whether it will be "fixed" or "Mobile" WiMAX) in developing areas, such as the vast majority of Africa, that effectively don't have any Broadband Internet Access.
How is Augere deploying WiMAX work better than upgrading the wireless telephony systems already in existence? Basically (and this is, admittedly, a gross oversimplification), because WiMAX technology was designed for the Broadband Internet Access era, where it's assumed that you need a lot of data transferred cost-effectively, that's engineered for the connectionless nature of TCP/IP. Wireless telephony systems, on the other hand, even LTE, are designed for the era of "everything the customer does is a billable event".
With Augere deploying WiMAX systems, a person can go get a modem or device, take it home, and be on the Broadband Internet, mobile, or fixed - doesn't matter. No messing with wirelines, no issues with by the minute billing. When they get on the Augere network, they're on the Internet.
By using WiMAX, Augere's networks will be built for those "excessive uses" that wireless telephony networks are being "abused" by their users - Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), video downloads (they'll completely bypass the Broadcast Television, Cable Television, and Satellite Television eras; they won't NEED them), peer-to-peer (well, WiMAX will handle that better, anyway), videoconferencing, telemedicine, tele-education, and most of all... all the things we haven't yet dreamed up yet, but that the Internet is able to accommodate.
And getting the rest of the world on the Internet, where their voices can contribute to the global discussion, makes a huge difference in the world.
Bravo, Augere!
By Steve Stroh
Copyright (c) 2009 by Steve Stroh
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