Malaysia Hopes to Award WiMax Licenses This Fall By CRIS PRYSTAY and E-LING LIAW Wall Street Journal
August 2, 2006 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115445617229723644.html?mod=googlenews_wsj KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia could award its first WiMax wireless broadband licenses as early as October, its minister of energy, water and communications said, as the country strives to boost its Internet-transfer speeds and keep up with more technology-savvy neighbors such as Singapore and South Korea. Minister Lim Keng Yaik said the licenses for the 2.3-gigahertz spectrum could be awarded "as early as October or November, it could be as late as sometime next year." The 2.3-GHz spectrum has been dedicated to WiMax, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, which enlarges wireless-broadband-access areas. Wireless-broadband services offer wireless Internet linkups within a wide-ranging but defined area, unlike less-powerful "Wi-Fi" networks that offer access within smaller areas, such as airports. With wireless broadband, laptop users can tap into the Internet from any location inside a designated coverage area, such as a big city or a larger region of a country. The WiMax industry is growing quickly in Asia. At least 13 Asian countries are conducting WiMax trials. Singapore and South Korea both tendered WiMax licenses last year. Pakistan's telecommunications authority in June signed a contract with Motorola Inc. to build a countrywide mobile WiMax network. The total Asia-Pacific WiMax market, including orders for base stations and revenue from commercial services, is valued at $106.4 million in 2006, and will grow to $4.3 billion in 2011, estimates U.S.-based technology-market-research company In-Stat. WiMax is a particularly compelling proposition for developing countries, which can use the technology to offer broadband without laying down miles of fiber cables. WiMax could help Malaysia jump ahead of many developing countries in Asia, and overcome technology hurdles that have hampered broadband offerings, analysts say. An earlier tender for the licenses, originally scheduled to close July 18, was called off. The government had planned to announce winners of the licenses Oct. 31. Mr. Lim said talks between the ministry and industry regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, were continuing over proposed changes to the tender license criteria. "This technology will provide the opportunity to bring the whole country a step further into the broadband age," said Bryan Wang, managing director of In-Stat Asia Pacific. "Broadband penetration is really low, primarily because [national carrier] Telekom Malaysia's network is not strong enough. They cannot really provide high-speed broadband service in Malaysia." Malaysia's planned WiMax network will allow telecommunication companies to provide last-mile broadband service in areas just out of reach of existing networks, as well as in communities where there is no connection, Mr. Wang said. A WiMax base station, for example, can extend broadband services from the last point of an existing fiber network to a broad area, without new cabling. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
