28 December 2006

WiMAX as a backhaul technology

There have been questions raised about the suitability of WiMAX as a competitor to WiFi or 3G because of the return path challenges (see this, for example). As I have noted earlier, Sprint Nextel plans to roll out a national WiMAX network as its 4G mobile technology. This article in BusinessWeek indicates that Sprint Nextel's real motivation is different ... to reduce the cost of backhaul in its wireless network. The article goes on to suggest that the main business target of a WiMAX network is not mobile customers, but fixed small businesses who need DS-1 level speeds.

Do you find this argument compelling? Do you think that WiMAX has a future as a mobile wireless technology?

Technorati Tags:
, , ,

1 comment:

best 5.1 pc speakers said...

WiMax is today already applied by biggest carriers worldwide. So, it is successful.