Opposition To WiMAX in India
Many GSM industry supporters have looked at WiMAX as a competitor – though others disagree and call attention to its complementary uses as I’ve covered before in the post Why WiMAX?. In Pakistan Wateen is an interesting case because it wants to have a two prong strategy and cover all its bases. However in India there’s some resistance to WiMAX which gives an idea of the uphill battle WiMAX is facing.
Here’s a (story) which tells about the internal struggles in India about WiMAX standards. However the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the body representing all GSM operators, has cited compatibility / interference issues and wants more time before agreeing to the proposed standards.
The global WiMax Forum has sought the Indian government’s support in its endeavour towards getting the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to include WiMax as part of International Mobile Communications – 2000 (IMT-2000) standards.
The forum has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Wireless and Planning Wing to support its cause in the upcoming ITU meet in Kyoto, Japan. Indian cellular operators have, however, opposed the move and said that the DoT must not support the forum’s proposal until further details such as compatibility and interference issues with regard to WiMax are available.
IMT-2000 is the global standard for third generation (3G) wireless communications as defined by the International Telecommunication Union. It has defined five standards which are followed globally for 3G services. In January 2007, a proposed sixth standard (WiMax) was submitted into ITU by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and supported by the WiMax Forum.
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