PORTLAND, OR The WiMAX Forum (www.wimaxforum.org) commended the Department of Telecommunications of India for the allocation and upcoming auction relating to the 2.3- and 2.5-GHz frequency bands. The availability of these key bands for WiMAX technology in India will provide its consumers with much needed broadband connectivity across the diverse economic and social needs of the population. The auction will distribute two 20 MHz blocks in the 2.3- and 2.5-GHz bands. The government also announced that blocks in the 700-MHz and 3.3- to-3.6-GHz bands will be auctioned as they become available.
Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum, applauded the action on the part of India's Department of Telecommunications, noting that "WiMAX technology will meet a number of needs for India's diverse population, bridging the digital divide while providing a platform to meet the future demands for 4G mobile broadband services. For the citizens of India, WiMAX services will connect the remote villages access to broadband connectivity while at the same time, enable delivery of mobile broadband in suburban areas and cities for a number of high-demand applications."
The WiMAX Forum plans to add an Indian certification laboratory to its existing network by the end of 2008. The WiMAX Forum has certified 18 Mobile WiMAX products in the 2.3- and 2.5-GHz bands and estimates that its laboratories will certify more than 100 WiMAX products by the end of this year. The group also plans to accelerate the building of certification infrastructure for 2.3- GHz products (with 5- and 10-MHz channels) this year, to drive certification of 2.3-GHz products as soon as possible. All WiMAX Forum Certified products operate on unpaired time-divisionduplex (TDD) spectrum with plans to include paired frequencydivision- duplex (FDD) spectrum capabilities in the future.