The WiMAX Forum has announced the first Mobile WiMAX products to receive the WiMAX Forum Certified Seal of Approval for the MIMO 2.3 GHz profile. The completion of the 2.3 GHz certification testing profile allows WiMAX Forum designated labs to accept tri-band (2.3, 2.5 and 3.5 GHz) products and immediately begin the certification process.
Following months of rigorous testing to ensure that each WiMAX product met the strict WiMAX Forum interoperability and conformance standards, the announcement included two base stations operating in the 2.3 GHz band from Huawei and Samsung.
Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum congratulated Huawei and Samsung “for leading the way for WiMAX Certified 2.3 GHz products.” He said that considering that India’s BWA auction currently in progress, this band of the spectrum is increasingly important. “WiMAX services in India and other counties with poor broadband penetration will create new opportunities and generate economic vitality and jobs for millions of people while closing the digital divide gap in rural areas.”
WiMAX Forum testing labs in China and Korea undertook tests of the newly certified products. Other labs are involved, and the ADT lab in Taiwan recently constructed its 2.3 GHz test bed infrastructure and is ready to begin testing of submitted products.
“The competition of the first 2.3 GHz certified products opens the door to our designated labs accepting tri-band products for certification testing,” said Ed Agis, Chair of the WiMAX Forum Certification Working Group. “Tri-band WiMAX devices operating in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands will enable true global roaming across networks with agreements in place. We expect the first tri-band products to be certified in 2010.”
The fastest growing sector for WiMAX operators is the 2.3GHz spectrum. By April 2010, the WiMAX Forum says it tracked more than 50 commercial deployments in this band across 148 countries, where there were a total of 588 WiMAX deployments.
More than 25 WiMAX Forum member companies manufacture WiMAX base stations and 47 are CPE and end user device suppliers. More than 205 Mobile WiMAX certified products achieved certification so far.
By 2011, the WiMAX Forum estimates there will be more than 1,000 Mobile WiMAX Forum Certified products available commercially. The WiMAX Forum partner labs network includes six labs that are now open and ready to accept products for certification testing in China, Korea, Spain, U.S., and two labs in Taiwan (ADT and TTC/CS).
