WiMAX.Pk – WiMAX portal for Pakistan

Nokia has given us a sneak peak of a Linux-based Internet tablet that is in the works. The device “features an 800-by-480-pixel touchscreen, internal 2 GB of Flash memory, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a variant of the Firefox web browser called microB”.

Other than support from chip-makers, such as Intel, mobile devices will play an integral role in the success of WiMAX. This looks like something that would really catch on.

It is also interesting to see how operating systems will manage support for WiMAX. Since the Nokia tablet is based on Linux, the open source world will probably be the first to support various aspects of the technology (drivers, monitoring tools etc.).

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This topic has been under discussion before, but I wasn’t able to find if this really is a serious issue. Here is a report that claims it to be true. WiMAX is undergoing deployment at a very fast pace, though I doubt anybody has taken its effects on satellite communications into consideration. Maybe a detailed study of this issue should be done before we further push the usage of this relatively new technology.

According to this article, 2008 will be a make or break year for WiMAX. Though there are some unfavourable remarks about the recent WiMAX pushes in developing countries like Pakistan, it will likely be a bumper year for its adoption. No doubt, it may be facing hurdles in the US and other countries, as described below:

“WiMAX suffered a major setback when the partnership between US operator Sprint Nextel, one of the technology’s strongest advocates, and Clearwire fell apart in November,” says Andrew Parkin-White, Principal Analyst at Analysys, and co-author of Mobile Market Perspectives 2008

However, the biggest advances are likely to come from Asia. The biggest WiMAX network in the world has already been deployed and made operational in Pakistan. The next step, an even larger network, is planned for India which should bring a significant number of users on board. And for the growing middle class in these countries, the cost of equipment is not a major hurdle.

This WiMax card for laptops is among WiMax devices announced by Motorola:

It supports both 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz modes.

A revised report has upped the user projections for WiMAX and the new estimates put the number at 100 million by 2014. This projection is probably based on the increased number of devices with WiMax chipsets that are planned for the coming years and the availability of the service to a larger number of people.