What is the role of WiMAX, and what is the role of 3G? Klaus-D. Kohrt, senior vice president mobile government and industry relations for Siemens, intends to answer those questions during Thursday’s keynote event in his speech, “Fishing for Complements: The role of WiMAX vs. 3G.” First and foremost, Kohrt aims to explain why the suggestion that 3G directly threatens WiMAX “grossly oversimplifies the situation and largely ignores technical realities and sometimes even the laws of physics.”
Kohrt — who serves as vice chairman of the UMTS Forum and also represents his company on the WiMAX Forum — said he will “set the record straight” about the capabilities of both 3G and WiMAX. “I hope to convince the audience that there is value in aligning the activities of both camps on a common, interoperable approach toward next-generation mobile networks,” he said. “And last, but not least, I must raise awareness that we cannot allow misguided attempts at technology neutrality to lead to a fragmentation of precious/scarce spectrum resources.”
WiMAX should be the preferred standard for broadband wireless access and products, Kohrt said, because it will bring “much-needed harmonization to a fragmented market of proprietary wireless access technologies. This will enable worldwide plug-and-play and scale efforts, which will ultimately drive down deployment cost and result in lower consumer prices.”
There is a lot happening in the world of WiMAX, Kohrt noted. For example, “BWA spectrum in the 3.5GHz range is being made available for licensing and operators are rolling out WiMAX-certified equipment based on IEEE 802.16d for fixed and nomadic services to provide wireless DSL for their customers.”
Kohrt also said much effort is going into producing the IEEE 802.16e specifications and profiles for mobile WiMAX. “Eventually, we will see the certification and products according to these requirements reach the market,” he said. “It is therefore important to resolve the current conflict on access to suitable spectrum around the world and reach an agreement on harmonized spectrum conditions for both 3G/UMTS and WiMAX.”
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