KEY POINTS:
Over the heads of the thousands traipsing the halls of last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas an experiment in the future of mobile technology was under way.
US mobile network operator Sprint-Nextel beamed video through the air to Samsung mobile phones and computers that operate on a new wireless technology called mobile WiMAX.
Sprint plans to spend US$3 billion ($4.3 billion) in the next two years launching a mobile WiMAX network across the US, with the aim of providing broadband access speeds equivalent to what customers get from fixed-line DSL connections.
Hardware makers Samsung, Motorola, LG, Nokia and Intel have agreed to make the handsets and chips to support the new technology and were putting their marketing muscle behind the standard at CES. Although sending video over mobile networks is nothing new, proponents of mobile WiMAX see it as the logical evolution from existing 3G mobile services.
WiMAX operates in a similar way to existing Wi-Fi hotspots which users can connect to using Wi-Fi enabled phones and computers to access the internet. But WiMAX (802.16) is more stable and provides better data transfer speeds than Wi-Fi because of the way it manages traffic loads going through the base stations supplying network coverage. It can also reach customers several kilometres from base stations.
Samsung showed the first WiMAX-enabled handheld computer and phone at CES, which will handle video conferencing, streaming television and high speed data, and is based on the Windows platform. LG showed laptops with built-in WiMAX chips.
No New Zealand operators have yet launched mobile WiMAX services and devices. But internet providers Callplus and NZWireless are using fixed WiMAX as an alternative to Telecom's last-mile copper wire network. Subscribers use an antenna to access the internet and make telephone calls without wires.
Callplus claims to have secured access to more than US$450 million in funding from Japanese investors for a national launch of WiMAX services. It already operates a small network in Whangarei.
Wireless broadband operator Woosh also plans to switch to WiMAX. But the operators need to secure licences to additional radio frequencies to take WiMAX national.
A Government auction to be held this year is likely to see heated bidding for spectrum in the 2.3GHz band, which is ideal for WiMAX services.
WiMax standard
* A wireless networking standard delivering better speeds than existing Wi-Fi and 3G mobile services.
* Suitable for high-speed internet access, video telephony and mobile TV.
* Has support of a group of hardware vendors and network operators who see it as a good alternative to fixed-line broadband connections.
* Peter Griffin attended CES as a guest of Microsoft.
