Wimax, which has only a few thousand French subscribers, has no rating in the hexagon. But across the globe, this wireless technology to overcome the lack of fixed networks to connect to the Internet a success. By 2011, nearly 1 billion people should use the Wimax, not to make mobility but to be connected to the Internet. Three quarters of the total population covered by this "4 G of the poor" live in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
In the West, the operators seem to them have already voted for another 4 G technology: the standard of mobile LTE ("long-term evolution"). It will be deployed in a few months in the United States, and commercial launch planned in 2012-2013. Magnetized by this promise, the pioneers of the broadband wireless are suddenly tempted to unfaithfulness to Wimax.
In July, Intel has given them reasons to leave the ship, announcing himself the closure of its Wimax of Taiwan laboratory. With regard to equipment suppliers, manufacturer of microprocessors is the main defender of the Wimax ecosystem, in which it has invested 1.2 billion dollars over five years hoping to repeat the "coup" of Wi - Fi. In promoting this technology, Intel has indeed become the leading provider of compatible chips for computers. He believes now that the phase of R & D for Wimax is complete. Surprisingly, then, that the Wimax 2, offering theoretical rates of 1 gigabit per second (40 megabits now) will be developed in a year.
thrill in the hexagon
This is probably too late to seduce operators. "They will adopt the LTE because it is the natural evolution of 3 G." "They were anyway not want to hurry to invest in the 4 G", said Georges Karam, the founding CEO of Sequans technology, a French company that holds approximately 40 of the world market for Wimax chipsets. One of the leaders of this technology, the Russian Yota, 500,000 subscribers, announced in May that it would develop its network in five new cities in Russia... in LTE. The U.S. Clearwire, linked to the operator Sprint, he changed his agreement with Intel to reconvert its Wimax network, with 1 million customers. Meanwhile, major OEMs gradually flowing Wimax: Alcatel-Lucent in 2008, Nokia Siemens (NSN) in 2009. Motorola, very involved, just to sell its networks to NSN: that will become the Wimax activity "It is the market that will decide the winning technology, j. Phil Twist in NSN." Technical performance are close, this will depend on many of the cost of equipment, including the amount of mobile phones that manufacturers decide to put on the market. "With respect to Ericsson and Qualcomm, they have never thought to Wimax.
In France also, the lines are beginning to move. "We are not required by the technology, we just operating frequency and obligation to provide a reliable service, which requires stable and proven equipment", argues Marc Taieb, CEO of Bolloré Telecom, which is preparing a tender to test LTE on its Wimax network. His group has invested more than 100 million euros to reconstruct a map of France with the local licences issued in 2006. But it accounts for only 3,000 subscribers and executed that 20 of its obligations to coverage of the population, as its small Altitude Wireless competitor. The Telecoms Regulator bronchus not, because it considers that the operators were rolled in flour by equipment manufacturers: promised equipment never arrived. Indeed, the single licence national Wimax, owned by Free, well gave rise to the construction of a complete network, but there is no commercial offer. Just a heritage of antennas to the unknown value.
4 remain empty until less than three years91 of mobile customers in late March France Parkof additional quarters for their retirementHigh glazed bays are renovated in the sameAll options that employers trying to pushPeople think not enough accidents of life6 officially and that its debt is about to flyThe SSII then available network Frame RelayFirst the trade is also cyclic is air transportOn this type of attempts history is silent
