Truce is called in the WiBro war as Intel and LG agree to collaborate over the mobile standard 802.16e

Rethink IT, Jan, 2005

The greatest threat to the establishment of WiMAX as a global system for mobile broadband wireless seems to have been neutralized, with news that Intel and LG will collaborate to harmonize the mobile version, 802.16e, with an alternative approach developed in South Korea, known as WiBro. This is critical for two reasons--to accelerate the standardization of mobile WiMAX, which underpins the most disruptive potential applications for the technology; and to prevent a damaging standards battle between the US and Korea (which would likely be joined by China) that would fragment the market for vendors and create two incompatible wireless zones for international operators and users. In turn, this will help strengthen WiMAX' bid to be the key, technology to underpin the mobile enterprise, providing greater bandwidth than 3G for supporting flexible work patterns, and supporting applications such as salesforce automation or videoconferencing.

WIMAX VERSUS WIBRO

The WiMAX community has been embroiled for the past year in a political battle over whether South Korea's mobile broadband wireless technology, WiBro, should be the basis of the upcoming mobile WiMAX, 802.16e. Samsung and other backers of WiBro had lobbied for this, arguing that their technology was more advanced than 802.16e, as it is ready, for deployment by some Korean operators next year. But the move had been resisted by' US interests including Intel.

With the danger of two rival standards, and the likelihood that China would join Korea's 'technology island', there are moves afoot to harmonize the OFDM-based technologies, Intel and Korea's LG Electronics have agreed to work together on creating a single international standard combining the two.

LG spokesperson Karen Hyejin Park said: "Single broadband wireless access standardization would allow companies to avoid duplicate investments in handsets and systems that may occur between countries. Consumers will then be able to receive broadband wireless access services at a more affordable price."

Beyond the political implications of a truce, WiBro expertise could accelerate the creation of" an effective mobile WiMAX, bringing knowledge of high speed mobility into the 802.16e camp at an early stage, as well as the experiences of-early operators, which will go live with WiBro services next year.

HIGH PERFORMANCE INTERNET

The Korean technology will underpin an ambitious government-backed plan called High Performance Internet (HPi), which aims to bring mobile broadband wireless to the bulk of the population. The Korean government will issue three national licenses in 2.3GHz for WiBro early next year, which are likely to be won by Korea Telecom, SK Telecom and Hanaro Telecom.

WiBro works at 70 miles per hour, while 802.16 was originally designed only for portability and there have been questions raised over its suitability for high speed operation. A merger with WiBro would calm these fears, bring valuable intellectual property' into the WiMAX fold and effectively sideline the separate IEEE effort aimed at fast mobility 802.20 or Mobile-Fi. This initiative was backed in its early days by mobile broadband wireless specialists Navini and Flarion, but Navini has since defected to the WiMAX camp, and Flarion, while still nominally a supporter of 802.20, is socking to establish its own Flash-OFDM technology as a de facto standard--an aim that may be hindered by the prospect of" an undivided mobile WiMAX.

The original objections to WiBro being incorporated into 802.16e were partly technological--although the two technologies share an OFDM base and some characteristics, WiBro uses a different carrier structure and its initial profile is for 2.3GHz rather than WiMAX" 3.5GHz/2.5GHz (although harmonization will accelerate moves to create a WiMAX profile fin" 2.3GHz, benefiting AT&T and others--see feature on page 22).

But more intractable were the political tensions. We have seen how much store US companies such as Intel are setting by WiMAX, not just as a new revenue stream, but a means to steer an important new standard, with Intel even looking as far as possibly acquiring spectrum to increase its level of control. By, making WiBro the starting point for 802.16e, the balance of influence shifts significantly towards the Korean vendors, since their technology is currently more advanced. In particular, LG and Samsung, the latter the major early driving force behind WiBro. Both of these giants have been targeting western mobile communications markets aggressively with handsets, chips and other equipment, and with a high degree of success, and will see 802.16e as another route into global markets, possibly at the expense of US players.

In the end, however, it was obvious that South Korea would not leave its homegrown and advanced technology behind, and could take China and other countries with it, depriving the western players of access to some of the most important broadband wireless markets, or forcing them to invest in developing two separate product lines. The chance for a truly global equipment market which was denied in cellular communications, of course, by Qualcomm's CDMA, another initiative heavily backed by, Samsung and Korea--in the end was more important than regional bickering, with massive potential benefits for the world communications map and for WiMAX' chances of fulfilling its global ambitions.