Choosing sides, again

When Nokia officially departed the WiMAX Forum last week, some people might have asked what the company was doing on the forum in the first place. The Finnish mobile handset giant with a more modest mobile infrastructure subsidiary was a founding member of the group, which is pursuing interoperability for the upcoming class of 802.16 fixed wireless products looking for deployment in wireless ISP and carrier transport networks within the next couple of years.

However, while WiMAX likely will be deployed initially in a transport medium to backhaul traffic from Wi-Fi hot spots, it also has potential as an access technology, something the broadband wireless access industry--having had its share of market heartbreak--is really banking on. Moreover, with the eventual approval of the 802.16e standard amendment, WiMAX will support full mobility within its access coverage.

Many WiMAX proponents believe the technology will not only one day deliver telcos from the restrictions of wireline broadband, but also might be something that appeals to mobile carriers. With Wi-Fi having encroached on coverage areas once thought to be potential venues for mobile data coverage, it appears there is room for more than one kind of broadband wireless technology after all. The evolution of WiMAX could provide further evidence of that.

It's something worth thinking about for all kinds of carriers. Not all mobile carriers have made their 3G decisions yet, and even those who have might consider whether there are portions of their markets better served by Wi-Fi or WiMAX.
That may have helped Nokia decide to join the WiMAX effort, but why did it quit? The company reportedly told other forum members that WiMAX wasn't near enough to wide market adoption. With none of that adoption having begun yet, and likely none beginning until sometime next year, that logic can't be argued.

However, you have to wonder if Nokia felt that it needed to choose sides in what could be an eventual face-off between 3G mobile and WiMAX. We have seen it happen before with Wi-Fi: Traditional mobile vendors, and also carriers, mostly have stayed out of one of the biggest trends in the history of wireless technology (though some carriers are hedging their bets with resale deals). Though companies cling to claims that Wi-Fi and 3G are complementary, most would be at a loss to explain how that is true.

Nokia's departure from the forum could be the first hint that, with WiMAX, history is going to repeat itself.

E-mail me at doshea@primediabusiness.com.