WiMAX joins cellular as an ITU standard

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 23 October 2007 07:48

IT Policy - Regulation

The global WiMAX industry is euphoric today following acceptance of the IEEE's mobile WiMAX standard, IEEE 802.16.2005, by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an international standard, one of its IMT-2000 Recommendations alongside the 3G cellular standards.

Final approval was granted by the ITU's Radiocommunication Assembly, which convenes every three to four years and which included delegations of nearly 100 nations along with many private-sector representatives and international member organisations, including the IEEE. The ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technologies and has set global telecommunications standards for over a century.

The ITU has formally recognised IEEE 802.16 by incorporating it as the sixth terrestrial radio interface, the first one added to IMT-2000 since the five original ones (covering today's cellular mobile technologies) adopted nearly a decade ago. The specific implementation, known as "IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD WMAN," is the version of IEEE 802.16 supported in a profile developed for certification purposes by the WiMAX Forum.

According to the IEEE, "Recognition of OFDMA TDD WMAN, a subset of IEEE 802.16, as an IMT-2000 technology opens the door for operators around the world to choose advanced IEEE 802.16-compliant systems providing consumers with a range of voice, data, and multimedia services to both stationary and fully mobile devices."

According to José M Costa, IEEE 802.16 Working Group ITU-R Liaison Official, "The addition of OFDMA TDD WMAN in Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 is a major milestone that pushes the envelope in the development of the capabilities of IMT-2000."