Paper title

"Benefits of WiMAX Standards (IEEE 802.16 – Broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks)"

Author: Turhan Muluk
Affiliation: Wireless Standards and Regulations Manager, Intel, USA

The social and economic benefits of offering broadband services everywhere in a country are crucial to its development and countries are looking for economic, cost-effective, easy, fast-to-deploy, and high-performance next generation broadband solutions. There is clearly a need for all IP-based wireless broadband network that has a similar quality of service as wireline IP-based broadband type services but with the added advantage of mobility. WiMAX as a next generation wireless broadband access technology can deliver on all these attributes. The WiMAX standards (IEEE 802.16) offers fixed, nomadic, and mobile applications. Intel is developing WiMAX chips for products. Users will able to get wireless broadband services with these products via WiMAX networks. There are more than 470 WiMAX Forum members (www.wimaxforum.org) today. WiMAX standards and certified products are being deployed around the world. WiMAX enables competition in the broadband market and therefore reduces associated costs to the consumer. WiMAX can also be used for health, education, e-government, e-commerce, security, and for other innovative next generation applications. To get maximum benefit from WiMAX, right regulations, technology neutrality and spectrum allocations should be in place timely.