"It's fair to say (mobility) was one of the issues (regarding WiMAX)," Shen said in an interview. "And there are other issues. But WiMAX has a lot of different applications that we want to evaluate. For instance, it can be a backhaul solution from a cell site. It also can be for a fixed wireless applications and Nextel is considering some options for that, too."
WiMAX proponents are working on the 802.16e sub-specification that will provide mobility, but "that's not where they start from and it's at an early stage," Shen said.
The company said it has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to both Flarion Technologies, the developer of FLASH-OFDM, and to vendors of next-generation EV-DO equipment. Shen said he expected the RFP process to be completed in the first half of next year.
"We are going through a formal RFP process to evaluate the vendors and their response," Shen said. "Another purpose is to understand whether there is a significant difference between the two technologies."
He said that, besides speed, latency is a key consideration. That's particularly the case because the operator wants to deploy voice-over-IP over whichever system they choose, according to Shen.
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