China's ZTE Corp said it has sealed an exclusive deal with Emcali to build Colombia's first WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) 16e network. Shenzhen-based ZTE will provide Emcali with core network and wireless access equipment as well as terminals and base stations for the 3.5G WiMAX project. The Colombian government awarded WiMAX licences to Emcali two years ago, and the company is required to make the network commercially available by the end of 2008, ZTE said in a statement.

"Intel believes a Wimax-ready laptop could be available in the Indian market at around US$300-400 dollars in a few months," Intel India's newly appointed Managing Director for Wimax division C S Rao told PTI.

Malaysian WiMax operator Packet One Networks began commercial services Tuesday, marking another step in the ongoing rollout of the broadband wireless technology. "Our plan is to target 100,000 subscribers in the next 12 months," said Michael Lai, Packet One's CEO, in a telephone interview.

AT&T CTO John Donovan said ...the telco is interested in using WiMAX to extend broadband coverage in rural markets where it would be more expensive to deploy wireline broadband. AT&T has run WiMAX pilots in the past, and always has maintained an interest in the technology. Also, AT&T gained several 2.3Ghz licenses in Southern US markets through its acquisition of BellSouth. BellSouth had aggressively commercialized on broadband wireless in those markets and had been an active supporter of WiMAX Forum certification for the 2.3Ghz frequency.

India's Tata Communications, formerly known as VSNL is planning to expand its WiMAX coverage from the current 60 towns to 115 during this financial year and is considering taking its broadband WiMAX services to four or five cities. "The government has announced that it will auction spectrum. Once the spectrum is allotted, we plan to take the broadband-WiMAX services to four-five cities," Tata Communications CEO, N Srinath said over the weekend.

Comments continued to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission over whether some top cable operators and Google should be able to team up with Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to provide a new WiMax-delivered broadband service. Free-market think tank The Free State Foundation weighed in Monday, saying that it will boost competition and adding that it should "eliminate" – or at least reduce –the calls for imposing network neutrality on broadband providers.

Quarterly sales grew to US$69.74 million from US$57.55 million in the comparable period a year ago. The company expects third-quarter revenue in the range of US$73 million to US$77 million. The company posted loss from continuing operations of US$812 thousand or US$0.01 per share, compared to loss from continuing operations of US$482 thousand or US$0.01 per share in the prior-year quarter.

If you live in the US, you can be reasonably hopeful about both of those things. If you live in the UK, you may not get either in the near future. According to the WiMax Forum, "currently there are more than 305 deployments of WiMax services in 118 countries worldwide". Some are being rolled out in the UK - one is in Milton Keynes - but most mobile users will probably have to wait until Ofcom auctions its "4G" spectrum and the winner(s) get round to installing transmitters and developing service platforms.

...Initial products at launch in Baltimore were confirmed to include embedded WiMAX laptops using Intel chipsets, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition, a Samsung PC Card, a ZTE USB dongle and a ZyXEL CPE modem. Other vendors and products are expected to be approved by Sprint for use on the network and enter commercial availability in the future...

Trai has also accused the Department of Telecom (DoT) of keeping it in the dark, both on the availability of WiMAX spectrum as well as on the government’s efforts to get other users such as the department of space to vacate these radio frequencies.The regulator has also demanded that the government put in place a transparent and efficient spectrum management regime.

For its networks in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, the first three markets for its WiMax service, Sprint will use equipment from DragonWave, an Ottawa company that makes wireless Ethernet nodes that can be arranged in a mesh.

The UK's largest fixed wireless access provider, is moving its network to WiMAX, and the EC has announced a decision that should increase the availability of WiMAX spectrum in Europe. On-Communications, which offers fixed wireless services designed to compete with business-quality leased lines, already operates in London, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Oxford, and will be using equipment from Airspan for a major rollout of "hundreds" of WiMAX base stations. New installations will use Airspan's MicroMax products...

The global BWA/WiMAX subscriber base increased by 260,246 in the first quarter of 2008, reaching a total of 1,988,246 subscribers according to figures from Maravedis. “Even with an increase of more than 19% in WiMAX subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, operators are still waiting for the tipping point that will lead to acceleration of WiMAX adoption and deployments,” said Adlane Fellah, CEO and founder of Maravedis.

...Sources say that the DoT wants the WiMax launch be initially restricted to only three players who will operate this service in the 2.5 GHz frequency band where one of the slots is reserved for state-owned BSNL/MTNL. This contradicts the recommendations of telecom regulator TRAI which had suggested that wireless broadband be rolled out in 3.3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 Ghz frequencies and up to 13 players be allocated spectrum to offer WiMax services....

China's Huawei Technologies said it has been selected by Mobilink, the largest GSM operator in Pakistan and a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom, to deploy a commercial WiMAX 16e network. In a statement, Huawei said the network will cover central business districts and hot spots in Islamabad, Karachi, Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi.

Comcast has revealed its intention to pursue WiMax femtocells as a key to its wireless strategy. Dave Williams, senior VP for wireless and technology at the cable giant said that part of the new Clearwire deal calls for 5MHz of spectrum across the US to be set aside solely for WiMax femtocells. ”It was hard won, but that’s in the deal,” said Williams, who joined Comcast earlier this year after most recently serving as chief technology o

The Ministry of Communications is set to publish its final WiMAX policy by Sunday at the latest. The policy will include a revolutionary proposal for encouraging deployment of a WiMAX network in which the money will be returned to the operator winning the tender as the network penetration deepens and the deployment broadens. The idea is to create an incentive for new operators to deploy as large a network as possible.

...Today, wireless operators control content, but the power they wield is in subsidies for handsets. When Apple came along with its iPhone, it changed the trend. It told operators, 'Get lost, don't subsidize and don't tell us what to do. We can sell the handset with no problem and give unlimited Internet access.' The wireless companies are trying to stop it but WiMAX will change things. Content is king, so wireless networks are the ones that supply the pipeline. They're not interesting in the least."...

Malaysian WiMAX broadband service provider Packet One Networks (Malaysia) has postponed its commercial rollout to sometime in the third quarter of this year. The rollout was originally scheduled for this month but chief executive Michael Lai told the press yesterday that Packet One is extending its user trials to make sure customers will be perfectly happy with its WiMAX service.

The WiMax Forum has issued its first certifications for mobile-centric products that operate around the 2.5GHz frequency, and said it will start certifying 3.5GHz products later this year. The organization announced that 10 mobile WiMax products had received the "WiMax Forum Certified Seal of Approval". Four base stations, from Alvarion, Motorola, Samsung and Sequans, won certification, along with mobile modules from Intel, Samsung, Beceem, Airspan and Zyxel.

Two years after ARCEP awarded 44 regional licenses for 3.5 GHz spectrum, a national network has yet to be launched, and only limited WiMAX activity has been reported on a regional basis. ARCEP said it will investigate the operations of license holders to confirm if they are meeting their roll-out obligations. The regulator said it will make its control until the end of June, and any company that has not met its obligations could face suspension of their license, or a fine equal to three percent of their revenue.