Welcome to WiMAX News, a fortnightly newsletter dedicated to covering the latest developments in the world of WiMAX. This newsletter will be distributed free to your in-box every fortnight and will provide a valuable insight into key operators, service providers, and equipment vendors active in this emerging sector.

Top WiMAX stories in this issue:

CHANGE OF PLAN FOR ISRAEL'S WiMAX TENDER

The Ministry of Communications - Israel (MoC) has persuaded the Ministry of Finance to exclude a planned tender of WiMAX frequencies and licences from detailed economic plans for 2008, according to Israeli daily newspaper Globes. 
The reasons why the WiMAX tender has been dropped from the new 2008 Economic Arrangements bill, unveiled earlier this week, are unclear, especially as the MoC insists that a tender will be carried out next year.  Meanwhile, the MoC has not challenged the inclusion in the bill of new rules designed to authorise and regulate mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Israel.

The original draft of the bill reportedly scheduled the WiMAX tender for March 2008, but included clauses that effectively barred all but one of the country's existing cellular telephony and 3G mobile telecommunications   operators from bidding for WiMAX spectrum.  The aim, it seems, was to attempt to keep the valuable WiMAX spectrum from being hoarded by the likes of Cellcom Israel, Pelephone Communications, and Partner Communications and to make it available to new entrants or other major players in Israel's broadband market, such as incumbent fixed-line operator Bezeq, broadband cable operator HOT Cable Media Systems (sometimes referred to as HOT Telecommunication Systems), NetVision (which has recently acquired international carrier Barak ITC), Internet Gold (which has acquired international carrier Golden Lines International), and even minority wireless operator MIRS Communications.  MIRS accounts for only 5% of the wireless market at present, meaning that it fits comfortably under the 25% market share ceiling imposed on prospective bidders.

Whether Bezeq would actually be allowed to bid for WiMAX spectrum remains to be seen.  It presently accounts for 95% of the fixed-line market, 32% of the international services market, 36% of the data and Internet services market, and owns cellular operator Pelephone, which accounts for around 32% of all wireless subscribers.  The MoC has long resisted calls to allow Bezeq and its subsidiaries to build and operate Voice over Broadband (VoB) networks and services, fearing that, by doing so, Bezeq would quickly stifle the competition.  Bezeq is currently mounting several legal challenges to this ruling, but seems unlikely to secure a change of heart after more than two years of arguments to date.  The MoC has said it will review the VoB issue with regards to Bezeq in two years' time.  In the meantime, Bezeq would likely view WiMAX as a desirable and more cost-effective alternative to VoB.

There were just over three million fixed line subscribers in Israel at the end of 2006, compared to nearly 8.4 million cellular telephony subscribers (including around one million 3G customers) and an estimated two million Internet subscribers.  At the end of 2006, Bezeq claimed that 72% of Israeli households were connected to the Internet (95% of them had high-speed connections).  The company also claimed that ADSL was the dominant platform for broadband Internet access in 2006, accounting for 64% of all high-speed connections.

More information on the Israeli telecommunications market is included in a Market Report on Israel, published by ITI in 2006; this report is currently being updated and will be available at the end of this month.  Meanwhile, a more recent version of that report is included in a special report on the telecommunications market in the Middle East, also published by ITI; entitled "Opportunities for Telecommunications Equipment and Services in the Middle East 2007".

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SPRINT NEXTEL UNVEILS WiMAX PRODUCT BRANDING AND BUSINESS PLANS

Sprint Nextel also provided Technology Summit attendees a first-hand user experience with its Pivot bundled services.  Pivot features Sprint wireless services as part of a packaged service offering from joint venture partner cable companies.  Additionally, the company showcased a variety of other technologies that are designed to leverage the company's portfolio of spectrum, wireless and wireline assets to allow customers to communicate anytime, anywhere.

"We've executed the technology plan we laid out when we merged two years ago, and, in doing so, we have advanced our vision of becoming the mobility services leader," said Gary Forsee, Sprint Chairman and CEO.  "Our unique set of assets allows consumers to live the mobile lifestyle and businesses to increase productivity by making any place a workplace. Sprint is best positioned in the marketplace to offer these capabilities."

Sprint announced that its WiMAX service will be marketed under the XOHM brand (pronounced ZOAM).  A soft launch of the WiMAX network is expected by the end of 2007 in the Chicago and Baltimore/Washington markets.  XOHM commercial services are expected to be available beginning in the first half of 2008.

Barry West, President of 4G Mobile Broadband and Sprint's Chief Technology Officer, noted that XOHM is expected to mobilise the Internet by driving the convergence of telecommunications, consumer electronics and the computer industries.  WiMAX service is being designed to create synergies among disparate industries through an ecosystem of chipsets, devices, networks, services/content and distribution to deliver broadband with speeds up to five times faster than current third-generation wireless devices.  West said that ecosystem partners have committed to embed 50 million WiMAX chipsets in devices.

Since announcing its initial plans nearly a year ago, Sprint Nextel has expanded its ecosystem of device, chip and other partners and selected Google to bring WiMAX mobile Internet customers search, interactive communications and social networking tools through a new mobile portal.  The company expects to begin offering 4G mobile broadband services up to two years ahead of other national wireless carriers.

Under its planned network sharing agreement with Clearwire Corporation, which was announced last month, Sprint Nextel currently expects the network buildout to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008 with Sprint providing coverage to 70 million and Clearwire to 30 million people.  Sprint's coverage is expected to grow to approximately 125 million people by the end of 2010.  At that level of buildout, the potential market would include an estimated 48 million US households, nearly five million small office/home office subscribers, and more than 130 million consumer electronics devices.

Pivot service, now available in 20 markets with plans for at least 40 by year-end, allows Sprint and its cable partners to bring the benefits of mobility and convergence to their customers by leveraging both landline and wireless networks.  Paul Saleh, Sprint Nextel's CFO, said the company expects meaningful growth in Pivot subscribers over the next 18 months, and that the service is expected to generate new revenue streams through new services, including remote DVR programming and video-on-demand.

In addition to serving nearly all of the Fortune 500 and thousands of smaller businesses, Sprint's wireline assets are supporting the strong growth in Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services through leading cable companies and are a cornerstone of the company's strategy to deliver converged services, Saleh added.  In the second quarter, cable VoIP revenues increased 60% annually.  The company noted that forecasts call for the overall VoIP market to more than double in the next four years.

Sprint Nextel also announced updated financial targets for its WiMAX business, reflecting final execution of the agreement with Clearwire:

• The company expects to generate between US$2 billion and US$2.5 billion in revenues for the fiscal year 2010 with more than 80% generated from new lines of business.

• The company expects that the WiMAX initiative will be positive for Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization (OIBDA) in 2010.

• Sprint Nextel expects to invest approximately US$2.5 billion in capital for WiMAX through year-end 2008.  Beyond 2008, network build is expected to be increasingly success-based.  The company currently expects that extending its coverage to approximately 125 million people by year-end 2010 would require an additional capital expenditure of approximately US$2.5 billion.
• The WiMAX initiative is expected to generate positive Free Cash Flow beginning in 2011 as the annual OIBDA contribution is expected to exceed capital expenditures, working capital and other cash requirements.

Source: International Telecommunications Intelligence (ITI)

Related Links:
Sprint Nextel - Company Report:
http://www.itireports.com/now_sprintnextel.htm

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GTL AND NAVINI SIGN PARTNERSHIP FOR DEPLOYING WiMAX NETWORKS

Navini Networks has signed a value-added services (VAS) agreement with GTL Ltd, an Indian network services provider, to provide services and solutions to telecommunications operators deploying Navini's Mobile WiMAX solutions.

"Our focus is providing a full suite of network services like planning and design, deployment, operations and maintenance, professional services, application and infrastructure management in all the markets where we operate.  By partnering with a leading WiMAX solution provider like Navini, we have an opportunity to provide reliable, competitive and quality network services to customers in this domain," said Mr Charudatta Naik, Chief Operating Officer, GTL.

"We're very excited about this partnership with GTL.  They bring very important offerings to our customers in a large and rapidly growing portion of our markets (Asia Pacific, India and Middle East).  For India specifically, Navini's Mobile WiMAX solution with Beamforming and MIMO is well suited and with GTL on our team, operators can look forward to a very rapid and smooth deployment," said Sai Subramanian, Navini's VP of Product Management and Strategic Marketing.  "We have the right technology and expertise available to support operator's business plans and in the timeframe required to acquire subscribers quickly."

Source: International Telecommunications Intelligence (ITI)

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VODAFONE JOINS THE WiMAX FORUM

The WiMAX Forum, an industry-led non-profit US-based organisation committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products, has announced that Vodafone Group plc has become a principal member of the WiMAX Forum.  WiMAX technology is set to allow high-speed Internet access from laptops and other mobile devices over larger distances than previous technologies, such as Wi-Fi.

“Our membership of the WiMAX Forum will complement our existing memberships of other key industry bodies such as the GSMA, 3GPP and the Next Generation Mobile Network initiative,” said Steve Pusey, Global Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone.  “Vodafone remains technology neutral as far as our future network options are concerned, and joining the WiMAX Forum is a logical step as we seek to evaluate the full capabilities and potential of this technology.”

The WiMAX Forum comprises more than 470 companies, including 141 operators committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products.

Source: International Telecommunications Intelligence (ITI)

Related Links:
Vodafone - Company Report:
http://www.itireports.com/now_vodafone.htm

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HITACHI COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND ALVARION TO COOPERATE IN DEVELOPING MOBILE WiMAX SYSTEM

Hitachi Communication Technologies Ltd and Alvarion Ltd have agreed to develop a broadband mobile wireless access system using mobile WiMAX technology.

The main aim of the agreement is for Hitachi and Alvarion to develop total system solutions, which combine the base station technology of Alvarion, with the mobile gateway, construction, and maintenance technology of Hitachi. 

Specifically, Hitachi will be in charge of developing ASN-GW, which has the following features:

(1) The common platform architecture is applied from a small system to very large systems so that it can flexibly be expanded along by the future traffic increase through separating protocol processor from traffic processor;
(2) It has a non-stop configuration to realise the quality of carrier grade so that it can switch to the redundant system without giving any impact to other equipment, such as base stations and mobile stations, through mirroring of operation information and instantaneous transfer of IP addresses; and,
(3) It has extremely high-speed packet processing performance through the use of high performance ASN-GW engine of which capability is expected to be 10 times or more when compared with Hitachi Communication's current products.

Meanwhile, Alvarion will be in charge of developing high performance macro/micro base stations, which have the following features:

(1) The realisation of the reduction in size and weight by function aggregation (unified RF parts and digital processing parts, 30% less power consumption and 50% less mass) and the reduction of installation work cost;
(2) It is compatible with AAS and MIMO, which are key features in the WiMAX ForumTM Wave 2 specifications.  As a result of combining MIMO and AAS together, effective cell design can be accomplished easier and both area coverage and system capacity increase; and,
(3) The realisation of low power consumption in the RF portion with the advanced technologies, such as DPD and CFR.

Hitachi will also aim for further global expansion in the next-generation broadband wireless business through this scheme.

Hitachi Communication Technologies Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi.  The company develops, designs, and manufactures a wide range of information and communication systems-related products.  Alvarion, with its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, is a global provider of innovative wireless broadband network solutions.

Source: International Telecommunications Intelligence (ITI)

Related Links:
Alvarion Ltd- Telecoms Market Report:
http://www.itireports.com/man_alvarion.htm

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