Posted: 13th Jun, 2005 By: MarkJ
Having recently pledged its support to the next generation wide-area broadband wireless
WiMAX standard, Nokia has today had to stress that this will not diminish its 3G commitment:
Beresford-Wylie explained that Nokia sees WiMax as essentially a data-only transfer medium that would be used primarily in metropolitan areas with 3G services handling voice traffic.
Initially the mobile giant will work on optimising the existing 3G standard, which currently delivers data speeds of about 384Kbps, so that by the end of the year speeds of 1-2Mbps to the handset will be possible in some areas.
Looking further into the future, when the 3G and WiMax standards coexist, the company is looking for data speeds of up to 14Mbps.The reality is that the UK would need substantial
WiMAX coverage before it could compete with 3G in the same market, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon. More @
VNUNet.