Report: ITU Set To Approve WiMAX Standard Today

October 19, 2007

Today the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is expected to announce that WiMAX has been approved as a 3G IMT-2000 standard.

This is important, chiefly because it clears the path for WiMAX deployments to occupy globally allocated frequency bands and complement or compete with other 3G technologies.

Debate is not over, strongly implies James Middleton of the U.K.-based website telecoms.com

"The agreement is understood to have been reached in an ITU meeting held late Thursday," Middleton reports. "Negotiators reportedly had a tough time hammering out the details as there were a number of objections to the inclusion of WiMAX as a 3G standard.

Middleton believes the decision will likely prove a hot topic at the World Radio Conference (WRC-07), which kicks off in Switzerland next week.

"The ITU Working Party 8F (WP8F), which was responsible for the decision, has been weighing a proposal by the IEEE and the WiMAX Forum to embrace mobile WiMAX, specifically IP-OFDMA, the basis of 802.16e technology," Middleton adds.

"The proposal says that WiMAX will complement 3G and offer operators 'an additional migration path' to support wireless-broadband services, whether by providing low-cost access in rural environments or by adding capacity in metropolitan areas," he explains.

We'll be observing, and reporting.