Just when mobile operators are finally getting their costly 3G networks up and running, a new wireless technology pushed by the computer industry is about to mess things up.
At stake are tens of billions of euros in mobile telecoms revenues, as semiconductor giant Intel is putting its formidable weight behind WiMAX, a powerful wireless technology that gives fixed-line telecoms carriers a weapon to hit back at the mobile rivals who have long been eating into their voice revenues.
WiMAX, an industry standard that travels under the alternative name “802.16,” and is also backed by Finland’s mobile phones and networks vendor Nokia, offers lightning fast wireless data communications over distances as far as 50 kilometers.
Compare that with the first 3G networks which, although much faster than today’s mobile phone networks, are 30 times slower than WiMAX, and one 3G radio mast covers an area 10 times smaller than WiMAX.
Read the full story at Reuters.
